Maryknoll, NY: Sister Elizabeth Marie Burns, a member of the Maryknoll Sisters Eastern U.S. Region, died on April 14, 2018 in Wethersfield, CT. She was 84 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 62 years.
She was born in Hartford, CT on December 15, 1933 to Elizabeth M. (Farreny) Burns and Perley G. Burns, both of whom are deceased; she had one sister and two brothers. She is survived by her sister, Mary Ann and both brothers, William and John J.
Elizabeth, known to all as Betty, graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy in West Hartford, CT in 1951. She then studied at St. Francis School of Nursing where she received her R.N. in 1954. On September 2nd, 1955, Betty entered the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY from St. Augustine Parish, in the diocese of Hartford, CT. At her Reception she received the religious name, Sister Maura Brigid. She made her First Profession of Vows on June 24, 1958 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her Final Vows on June 24th, 1964 in Korea.
In 1958, Betty worked at the Maryknoll Society’s Seminary kitchen. She was assigned to Pusan, Korea in 1959 where she worked as a nurse for the next eight years in the Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan.
She returned to the United States in 1967 and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1970 and her Masters of Science in Community Health Nursing in 1972, all from Boston College. In 1973, she transferred from the Korea Region to the Maryknoll Sisters Eastern U.S. Region, where she worked at the Connecticut State Health Department from 1973-2005. She retired after a long career which included: Hospital Inspector and Consultant, Chief of Licensure and Certification of Medical Facilities, Director of Hospital and Medical Care and finally Chief of Staff for the Department. For her dedication to the well-being of patients confined to nursing homes in the State of Connecticut, she received the Distinguished Managerial Service Award.
In 2006, Sister Betty was invited by the Pastor of Incarnation Parish to become an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, while also volunteering her services to St. Francis Hospital Home Care/Hospice in Hartford, CT. From 2008-2013, she became totally involved in pastoral ministry and conducting pastoral visits to the elderly, ill and homebound and led a “Small Christian Community” of women.
Sister Elizabeth died at St. Francis Hospital, Hartford CT.
The wake will be on Thursday, April 19, 2018 at Farley-Sullivan Funeral Home, Wethersfield, CT from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A funeral Mass will be offered at the Church of the Incarnation, Wethersfield, CT on Friday, April 20, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow immediately after the funeral at Mt. St. Benedict’s Cemetery, Bloomfield, CT.