Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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- Sister Kathleen Allen, SOS
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Born 19 May 1922 in North Bay, Ontario; daughter of James Patrick Allen and Olive Walden; entered January 1952; first vows 15 August 1954; final vows 15 August 1959; died 14 June 2005.
One of 10 children, Katie grew up in North Bay, attending St. Mary’s Academy and graduating from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in North Bay in 1944. After graduation, she worked as a registered nurse at St. Joseph’s hospital, North Bay, where she cared for the Dionne quintuplets and their mother and became head of the maternity ward. Nurturing a vocation, she was encouraged to join the Sisters of St. Joseph. Instead, she decided entered the Sisters of Service at the age of 29 in January 1952, she professed first vows on August 15, 1954 and final vows four years later on that day. A brother, Richard, was ordained in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
Arriving in August 1953 at St. John’s Hospital in Edson, Sister Allen began a 36-year association with the Edson mission, earning the distinction of being the longest-serving Sister of Service in the railway community of central Alberta. As a staff nurse, Sister Allen was Director of Nursing Services and Director of Patient Care at the community's two hospitals. Her assignment in Edson was interrupted once with an appointment to Our Lady’s Hospital (1963-1970), Vilna, the community's other hospital in Alberta. During that time, she studied at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, earning a diploma in Hospital Administration. Appointed superior in 1967, Sister Allen facilitated the negotiations of the community's withdrawal from the management of the hospital in June 1970. Returning to Edson as the administrator of St. John’s Hospital (1970-1989), she also oversaw the transfer of St. John’s Health Care Complex to the Edson Municipal District.
After retiring from nursing in 1989, Sister Allen devoted her time to Sacred Heart parish and the people of Edson. Visiting in the hospital and nursing home as a volunteer and as a Eucharistic minister, Sister Allen also conducted ecumenical funeral services in Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Church and Presbyterian churches due to the clergy shortage. In 1995, the town of Edson named Sister Allen its Senior Citizen of the Year.
When the Edson mission was closed in 1996, Sister Allen and Sister Dorothy Daley joined the community's retired Sisters in Toronto at Scarborough Court (1996-2005) and LaSalle Manor for a few months before she died of a heart attack on June 14, 2005 at the age of 83. The wake service and the Mass of Christian Burial were held in the chapel of LaSalle Manor. Her brother Father Richard Allen concelebrated the Mass with Father Roger Keelor, former pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Edson. Burial followed in the community's plot at Mount Hope cemetery in Toronto.
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Created by F Rousselle July 15, 2025.
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Biographical sketch adapted for brevity from complete biography written by SOS congregational archivist MC Havey.