Sr. Verenice McQuade, CSJ, died Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, in Kalamazoo. A vigil service was held Monday, Feb. 13, and Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, followed by interment in Gate of Heaven Cemetery at Nazareth. Services were in Holy Family Chapel.

Verenice McQuade was born in Detroit on Nov. 18, 1916, the daughter of Walter and Florence (Aben) McQuade. She was a member of St. Henry Parish in Lincoln Park at the time of her entrance into the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph on June 21, 1937. She received her baptismal name, Verenice, at her reception on Jan. 7, 1938. She pronounced first vows on Jan. 8, 1940, and final vows on Jan. 8, 1943.

Sr. Verenice earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Nazareth College and a master’s degree in hospital administration from St. Louis University. Her early years in the community were spent in teaching at St. Bernard, St. David and St. Benedict Schools. She then entered the health care field and served as treasurer, assistant administrator, and administrator at St. Joseph Hospital in Flint for 12 years. In 1960, she was elected to SSJ Congregational Administration and for much of the next 12 years she served as superior general. With grace and purpose she implemented within the congregation the changes brought about by Vatican Council II. In 1971, Sr. Verenice returned to health care administration as a vice president at St. John Hospital in Detroit and she remained there until failing health caused her to retire.

Sr. Verenice was a woman of great vision, a natural-born leader who was blessed with courage, strength, faith and wisdom. With compassion and dedication, she spent her life ministering to the needs of others, and she considered it a great privilege to minister to those who had lost the precious gift of health. Sr. Verenice was most grateful for the many people who touched her life, especially her parents, and she was grateful to God for deep faith, her love of community and her friends, especially Camille DeMario, who enriched her life and supported her in ministry. She often quoted a motto that she learned many years ago and that she lived by: “The aim of my life is perfection, the end of my life is God.” May Sr. Verenice now enjoy everlasting peace and love in the presence of the God she so faithfully served all her life.

Memorials to Congregation of St. Joseph, 3427 Gull Road, PO Box 29, Nazareth, Michigan 49074.