Sr. Rita Olivier

June 10, 1929 – October 6, 2017

At St. Boniface Hospital, Sister Rita Olivier (Sr. Agathe-Marie) was welcomed in the arms of her Creator God on October 6, 2017. Her parents, her brothers, Richard and Léo and four other young siblings preceded her in death. She leaves to mourn her passing, the members of her congregation, Thérèse, her sister-in-law, nieces and one nephew.

Daughter of Agathe Lemoine and Euclide Olivier, Rita was born in Ste-Agathe, Manitoba on June 10, 1929. Rita did all her schooling at Ste-Agathe Convent. She learned to pray at a very early age and it was always a great pleasure for her to accompany her mother to church and she has remained a very prayerful person. Rita entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in Outremont, Québec on July 24, 1952. She made her temporary profession on July 23, 1954 and her final vows on August 5, 1957.

In 1954, Rita returned to Manitoba to begin her journey of service to others wherever she would be sent: St-Jean-Baptiste, St-Pierre-Jolys, Flin Flon, Keewatin, Kenora, Ste-Agathe, Sacré-Coeur, Somerset and Résidence Jésus-Marie, St-Boniface. Responding to her call to live the charism of the congregation, Sister Rita spent many years providing sisters and boarders with well prepared meals, and later on in life volunteered to bring communion to sheltered elderly people of the St-Boniface Cathedral parish and other times she delighted to volunteer at Villa Rosa to care for young babies. She was also present to her own members of the congregation with whom she visited at the infirmary. She sang and prayed with them. Sister Rita loved to knit and nothing made her happier than having a variety of her creations to be given to bazaars, to the missions and to families in need. Sister Rita would want to make sure that the staff of Résidence Despins Supportive Housing know that she greatly appreciated their compassionate care.