"I'm quite proud of them because their very first concerns were with the residents and I thought that was very admirable," Ms Stokes said.
"There were lots of tears and lots of sadness."
An hour later the news was broken to the home's 41 residents and their families, who reacted in a similar manner, with concern for the staff.
"We have told them we are committed to make the transition to new accommodation as smooth as possivble for residents.
"Residents and their families have been assured that they have a home at Nazareth until a new home is found for them."
Residential aged care services began at Nazareth in 1987 to look after the order's own older sisters, along with elderly people from the wider Whanganui community.
Ms Stokes said that she had known the writing was on the wall for some time and that she was not surprised by the announcement.
"I knew that the sisters were certainly looking at their future direction and I also knew that the facility had quite a substantial amount of capital expenditure that would be needed to spent on it going into the future.
"The reality is that it's very hard to remain sustainable in an environment that is weighed against some of the bigger players in age care services," she said.
Ms Stokes said one positive is that there is capacity within Whanganui and that residents would be meeting with accessibility services within the next few weeks to sort out their futures.
"The board have been very, very clear that the facility will not close until every resident has been placed in another facility," she said.
"I'm extremely sad, but my role is to be here for the staff and to support them, so it's business as usual, we will remain resident-centred in all that we do."
