Marlborough:  Sister Claire Ferland, a Sister of St. Anne, died in her 92 ^nd year and in her 21 ^st year of vowed religious life at Marie Esther Health Center in this city on Friday, August 21, 2015.

She was the second of five children born to Omer and Lumina (Plante) Ferland , formerly of Central Falls, RI.  Following High School, she joined the Sisters of St. Anne in Lachine, Quebec and pronounced vows and was known as Sister M. Omer of Jesus.

For twenty years, she taught in New England Schools staffed by the Sisters of St. Anne.  She fulfilled her true life-long dream when she left the Sisters, to earn her LPN degree at Hudson Valley Community College in preparation to become a medical missionary in Africa.  She was her family care giver while gaining nursing experience in New York and in New Hampshire.  She first traveled to Sierra Leonne as a medical missionary with Catholic Relief Services and missioned for eleven years with that organization and with the Brothers of the Sacred Heart on the West coast of Africa.

Upon her return to the United States, she resumed family care giving and became an Associate of the Sisters of St. Anne in Marlborough, MA.   She rejoined the Sisters of St. Anne in 2013 and pronounced final vows in 2014.

Sister Claire is grieved by her siblings, Sister Helen Ferland, SSA and Sister Rollande Ferland  SSA both of Marlborough and  the Sisters of St. Anne.

She will be waked at St. Anne Convent, 720 Boston Post Road, Marlborough, on Monday, August 24 from 2-3 pm. followed by a prayer service.  The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, August 25 at 10:00 am in the convent chapel with burial in Evergreen 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 the Sisters of St. Anne or to a charity of your choice.