Sister Lorraine Bernier, R.G.S. 68, of Waltham died very suddenly at home  on April 26, 2013.  She had been a Sister of the Good Shepherd for 45 years.

Sister Lorraine was born in Waterbury, CT in 1944, the daughter of Al and Mary (Bossie) Bernier.

Sister graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Waterbury, CT and later entered the Novitiate of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Peekskill, NY, in 1967 where she began her formal training in the mission of the Good Shepherd Sisters, serving girls and women in need of care and education.

Sister Lorraine made her first profession in 1970 and pronounced her final vows in 1976.  She attended Siena College in Albany, NY where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology.  Sister then went on to study Social Work at Boston College School of Social Work and received her Masters degree.

In 1971 Sister was missioned to St. Anne Institute, a Good Shepherd residential program in Albany, NY, where she began her work as a Child Care supervisor.  In  1976 she became the Director of the Child Care program.

In 1981 Sister Lorraine was missioned to Madonna Hall for Girls in Marlborough, MA where she administered the Pelletier Diagnostic Program. After the residential program closed at Madonna Hall, Sister Lorraine worked with Catholic Charities at the Waltham office.  Sister then went on to do some very specialized work with patients suffering from severe head injuries at the Middlesex Hospital in Waltham.

In 1991 Catholic Charities invited Sister Lorraine to develop a new program in West Newton, MA called Genesis, that served the needs of families in crisis.

In 1995 Sister Lorraine began her work as a social worker at Maria Droste Counseling Services, a Good Shepherd program in Quincy, MA, and in 2006 Sister became the administrator of the program.  Under her direction, the Maria Droste Counseling center has grown and flourished. The lives of hundreds of clients have been touched by the loving care of Sister Lorraine and her staff.

Sister Lorraine is survived by her four sisters—Peggy Obar and her husband, Al of Englewood, FL; Joyce Bulinski and her husband, Bob of Seymour, CT; Gail White and her husband, Ron of Watertown, CT and Denise Hankey and her husband, Jim of Naugatuck, CT and several nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for Sister Lorraine at Good Shepherd Center, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, MA at 10:00 a.m on Wednesday, May 1, 2013.  Visiting hours at Good Shepherd Center will be on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 from 4-8 with a Prayer Service at 7 p.m.  Burial will be at Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury, MA.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home, 378 Lincoln Street, Marlborough.( www.CollinsFuneral.com ), expressions of sympathy in honor of Sister Lorraine may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway Street, Marlborough, MA 01752.  The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a world-wide congregation, was founded in France by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in 1835, in Boston in 1867, in Marlborough