MARLBOROUGH – Sr. Eliene Bastarache, a Sister of St. Anne, known in religion as Sr. Marie Azelie, died at the age of 96 at Marie Esther Health Center in this city on Friday, November 29, 2013. She recently celebrated 75 years of vowed religious life.

She was the daughter of Damien Joseph and Elise (Leger) Bastarache of Lynn. She completed her elementary education at St. Jean the Baptist School in Lynn and obtained her high school diploma from Saint Anne Academy in Marlborough. She held a B.E. degree from Catholic Teachers College of Providence, RI.

In 1936, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Saint Anne in Lachine, Quebec, and professed vows in 1938.  She returned to the United States immediately after pronouncing her vows and began her long teaching career in Ludlow where she spent the first 13 years of her ministry.   She also served nineteen years as principal and superior in schools and houses staffed by the Congregation in Ludlow, Lynn, Wayland, Marlborough; and in Manville and Central Falls, RI.  In 1988, after retiring from teaching, she moved to St. Anne Convent in Marlborough where she rendered innumerable community services.  Sister is survived her Sisters in religion and by her nieces and nephews.

She will be waked at St. Anne Convent, 720 Boston Post Road, Marlborough, on Sunday, December 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. followed by a prayer service.  The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, December 2 at 10:00 am in the convent chapel with burial in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Marlborough.  Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home( www.CollinsFuneral.com ), 378 Lincoln Street, Marlborough. Donations, in her memory, may be made to Marie Esther Health Center or to a charity of your choice.