Two nuns who were sisters (ph_2173)

Estelle Martin (1918-1997) to the left and her sister Méléda (1921-2003) were the daughters of Alphonse and Odélie Bouchard of Grand Falls. When their mother died in 1925, they came to the boarding school of Hôtel-Dieu in Saint-Basile. Estelle graduated in 1936 and went to Normal School in Fredericton. In September of 1937, Estelle and Méléda entered the noviciate of the Religious Hospitallers in Saint-Basile. Estelle taught several years. She was later asked to help in the organization of paramedical services in the Sanatorium of Saint-Basile. Later, she was Superior of the Ladauversière Pavilion in Bathurst and at the Grand Falls Hospital. Méléda who had taken the name of Sister Sainte-Bernadette was an outstanding nurse and head of departments at Hôtel-Dieu in Edmundston, Sorel and Saint-Quentin.