Bernard, Maureen H. (Sullivan), age 77 of Haverhill, died Thursday, February 14, 2008 at Penacook Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Haverhill.
Born in Lawrence, she was the daughter of the late Archibald D. and Helen (Leonard) Sullivan and the stepdaughter of the late Agnes (Hart) Sullivan. Maureen was a graduate of St. Patrick High School, Lawrence, and Emmanuel College, Boston. After college she entered the Roman Catholic order of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Providence, RI where she was known as Mother Elizabeth Teresa.
During her 13 years as a Franciscan, she received a Master's degree from Fordham University in New York and became a licensed clinical social worker at the Cardinal Hayes Convalescent Home for Children in Milbrook, NY for several years. She traveled to Rome where she received her mission cross from Pope John XXIII and continued on to Jakarta, Indonesia where she was a social worker for six years. After receiving a dispensation from her vows, she returned to the U.S. and joined the staff of Catholic Charities in Boston. She moved to Lawrence and married Vincent Bernard. Maureen worked for many years in the Lawrence office of Catholic Charities and became its acting director for a time before opening her private practice in Haverhill. She was a member of St. John the Baptist Parish in Haverhill.
Maureen is survived by her husband, Vincent H. Bernard; sisters, Barbara and her husband Philip Simpson Sr. of Boulder, Colo. and Jane and her husband John Cadarette of North Andover; sister-in-law, Evelyn Bernard of Bradford; nieces and nephews, Elizabeth (Simpson) and her husband Timothy Dietz of St. Paul, MN, Daniel Simpson and his wife Susan of Fort Collins, CO., Philip Simpson Jr. and his wife Susan of Boulder, CO., Helen (Cadarette) and her husband David Blanchard of Derry, NH, Mary (Cadarette) and her husband David Ahern of Bradford, and Jane (Cadarette) Clayton of Derry, NH. Maureen is also survived by a number of grandnieces and grandnephews.
The Funeral will be held Wednesday, February 20 at 9:30 a.m. from the C. Frank Linnehan & Son Haverhill Funeral Home, 129 Kenoza Avenue., Haverhill, followed by a Funeral Mass of Christian burial at 10:00 a.m. in St. James Church, 185 Winter Street, Haverhill. Interment will follow in Linwood Cemetery, Mill Street, Haverhill. Visitation Wednesday morning from 9:00-9:30 a.m. Contributions in Maureen's memory may be made to the charity of the donor's choice.