If anyone was destined to become a Sister of Compassion, it was Joan Patricia Hart — better known as Sister Helena — who died in Whanganui on December 2 aged 89.
She was born on 19 June 1929, sharing the same birthday as Suzanne Aubert, who founded the Sisters of Compassion.
Growing up in New Plymouth, she heard of Mother Aubert from her own mother who once served this famous woman in a drapery shop in the town. Mother Aubert wanted to buy some flannelette for the sisters' underskirts. Helena's mother generously gave her a donation of 2/6 (25c) from her weekly wage of 6/6 (65c).
So it was not surprising that Helena would eventually follow God's call to become a Sister of Compassion, Sr Josephine Gorman said in her eulogy at St Mary's Church. Sr Helena was a sister for 70 years.
Following her religious profession in 1948, she completed nursing and maternity training, working in surgical nursing and then with the aged and disadvantaged in the Homes of Compassion at Island Bay, Silverstream, Timaru and Whanganui. She also worked for six years in the order's homes in Wagga Wagga and Broken Hill, Australia.