She was born on July 24, 1925, to Melinda Fontaine Bourassa and Jean Baptiste Bourassa in Lewiston, Maine, in the very hospital in which she died. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Robert Bourassa, and a sister, Doris Bourassa Murkland.
Sister Rita grew up in Lewiston, Maine, where she attended St. Mary’s Elementary School. She attended high school at Mount Merici Academy in Waterville as a boarder. On July 16, 1943, she entered the Ursuline Sisters of the Northeast and made her vows on Jan. 16, 1946.
Higher education for Sister Rita included study at the College of New Rochelle in New York, Regina Mundi in Rome, St. Mary’s in Indiana, and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She earned a bachelor of arts degree and two master’s degrees, and enjoyed advanced study of French at Grenoble University in Paris.
Her education and her unique gifts prepared her for ministry in Springfield and Dedham in Massachusetts and Waterville in Maine for 34 years where she served as a teacher, and in a number of administrative positions including Provincial Leader of the Northeast Province, School Principal, Provincial Councilor, Provincial
Treasurer and
Provincial Secretary.
Sister Rita died in the company of her Ursuline Sisters. One of her final joys was the simple acknowledgment of her 70 years of service in religious life on Jan. 16 at St. Mary’s daily Mass.
Her life will be celebrated with a Mass of Resurrection in the chapel at St. Mary’s Residence, 100 Campus Ave., on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. Burial will be in the Ursuline Cemetery in Waterville later in the spring.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Retired Ursuline Sisters of Maine and Massachusetts in care of Sister Angela Krippendorf, 100 Campus Ave., #211, Lewiston, ME 04240.
Family and friends are invited to visit one hour prior to Mass at Maison Marcotte Chapel.
Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com.
Arrangements by Pinette, Dillingham & Lynch Funeral Home of Lewiston.
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