Nicolas Ferry

Deceased Sisters

Nicolas Ferry - France
14/02/1927 - 19/02/2018

We are gathered here to celebrate the return to God of our sister, aunt, cousin and friend. She was baptised Antoinette, Toinon to her family, Sister Nicolas to the Marist Sisters, and in keeping with her desire, Nico to her friends, in memory of her brother who died in 1940.

I will briefly outline her 91 years of life and try to reveal the riches of her personality and the quality of her faith right up to the last days of her life.

Sr Nicholas was born 14 February 1927 in Paris. She was the last of four children, the last one to die. Her attachment, I would even say her devotion to her family and her origins was profound. Who has not heard her recall the Avenue de Breteuil, Maisonville, Bazouges or her exile to St Etienne during the years 39 and 40 of the war? One of her last worries was that the memory of her ancestors should not be lost. She had promised herself to pass on her family documents to her nieces and nephews.

Antoinette did not undertake any lengthy study. “I am not an intellectual”, she would say, happily comparing herself to her sister and brothers. She was more comfortable being involved in the scouts. It was no doubt there that she developed a keen sense of service. Always ready to help. With a driver’s licence from the age of eighteen, she took an active part, as an ambulance driver, in welcoming back to France prisoners of war in 1945. Then, from 1945 to 1948 she was finding her way by engaging in successive social activities.

It was in 1948 that she knocked on the novitiate door of the Marist Sisters whom she had known during her year as a student at Rond-Point in St Etienne. This decision was a surprise to those around her, especially because at that time the Congregation was considered to be semi-contemplative! Her mother told everyone that she would be home within a fortnight! It must be acknowledged that a sedentary life was not her cup of tea. Sister Denise Jégonday, a novice at the time, remembers that Sister Nicolas was incapable of remaining seated during the novice mistress’s lessons. And still, it was not for two weeks but for 70 years that our sister Nico lived as a Marist Sister, during which she gave full rein to her creativity and generosity.

From 1952 to 1961: she taught in the primary classes of our school, Notre-Dame des Bruyères in Belgium, where it didn’t take her long to set up an orchestra with her students.

After short stays at St Etienne and then here at Cours Fénelon, she was sent to the Val d’Oise where she remained for 46 years! Having gained a state diploma she practised as a community nurse up to 2010. One can understand why so many people from there remained attached to her.

Sister Nicolas was faithful. She maintained contact with all those with whom she had created links. Since her death many of them have telephoned us.

The closure of our community at St Prix was a shock since she had to abandon not only her sick patients, and many friends, but also the park of many acres that she maintained herself with the help of her legendary tractor! There was also the Parisis orchestra to which she belonged.

Fortunately, if it was necessary to leave this terrestrial Paradise at St Prix, there was another one which would suit her very well. “Man of freedom, you will always cherish the sea!’ said the poet. So it was courageously, with two others from the St Prix community, that she packed her bags and set off for Toulon, not forgetting her tools and the cage for the birds…which made the trip in the famous Clio. Her niece Martine remembers the stops along the auto route to give them a drink.

A sociable woman and one always ready to face a challenge, our Nicolas once again called upon her many talents as handywoman, artist, musician, social assistant… In eight years she again created solid connections in her new and last appointment. She soon found her place in the heart of Cours Fénelon, in the parish of St Paul, in her new orchestra, in the local beach community…

It was towards the end of summer that she had to face up to a new and last challenge on the day that the doctor told her that she had a cancer that could not be cured. Deciding that she had lived her life she refused the chemotherapy that could have prolonged it. But her decision was not a capitulation. On the contrary, as many recognised, it was a lesson in life, of courage and faith that Sister Nicolas gave us right to the end. She had given her life to God, she was ready to give it to him definitively, but she was not in a hurry and she was determined to live it to the end through her various activities. That is what she did with the help of our community and her many friends, such as Georges who from then on would drive her to the orchestra rehearsals.

Finally she found her place again in her last home, St Anne’s Hospital. Her joy, her enthusiasm knew no bounds. The nurses admired this patient who never complained and who, on the contrary, was always ready to have a laugh. Her visitors will remember those good moments spent with her, especially her birthday when she sang her Tyrolean song for us one last time adding: “It was Mum who taught it to me.”

Today we can thank Sister Nicolas for having shown us the way of confidence and abandonment to the will of God, the way of friendship with everyone and in particular with those who suffer or are in need.

St Paul’s Church 23 February 2018

Deceased Sisters

94 visits