Geneviève Marçon

Deceased Sisters

Geneviève Marçon - France
16/10/1936 - 05/10/2021

Welcome, everyone. It is Geneviève, our sister and aunt, who brings us together this morning to celebrate her return to God. Yes, I dare to say "celebrate" because Geneviève had such an assurance of being awaited by God: "It is I who will contemplate it, my eyes will see it, my heart burns in the depths of me" This is what she wanted to tell us by choosing the words of Job for the celebration of his funeral.

It is now up to me to retrace Geneviève's journey, to offer her to the Lord and to give thanks for the fidelity of His servant in the family of the Marist Sisters.

"No Time to Die" is the title of a current film. This is also what her community and her family might have said. Leaving at 85 is early in our time!

Geneviève was born in Toulon in 1936: she is the sixth of the family's eight children. Her early childhood was marked by the Second World War. She began her schooling with her three older sisters with a lady from Bandol who was called "Aunt Lucie". At Cours Fénelon she continued her studies until the baccalaureate and then she began her teaching career as a professor of natural sciences.

I do not know anything about the origin of her vocation, but we can guess that Geneviève found her way to us by working with the Sisters of Cours Fénelon, in particular Sister Saint Basil, then principal of the school.

In 1960, Geneviève knocked on the door of the novitiate of the Marist Sisters in Sainte Foy-lès-Lyon. But health problems led her to interrupt her studies and to return to her family and to resume teaching at Cours Fénelon. She waited three years before asking to be welcomed back into the Novitiate, making her profession on March 5, 1966. From 1966 to 1968: she trained as an early childhood educator.

In 1968, she was appointed to the community of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt where she began her teaching mission as kindergarten teacher at Rosaire. She continued this ministry

- in Saint Etienne at the Rond-Point from 1971 to 1973, and

- in Lyon at the Oratory from 1973 to 1976.

In 1976 Geneviève was appointed to the La Neylière reception centre. There she participated in the animation of the groups and put her artistic gifts at the service of those who wished, making various clay sculptures of vases, statues, cribs etc.

From 1978 to 1980 she was in Paris in the small community of rue des bois. She then resumed her role as kindergarten teacher in a school in Paris.

When that community closed, she returned to Lyon, to Rue Sala, where once again she exercised her function with the young students of the Our Lady of the Missions’ school. Each of us remembers her sighs at the thought of climbing the many stairs that led to the school!

The year 1984 marked an important turning point for Geneviève as she left the world of education to turn to the care of the elderly. After a year of training, she became a caregiver in our retirement home, here at Bon Repos until 1994, then at the Saint Joseph house in Saint Prix for 16 years.

From 2010 to 2013 she was delighted to be closer to her dear Midi and therefore to her family since she was appointed to the community which opened at La Fare-les-Oliviers. These years were rich in contacts with parish and neighbourhood. But her declining health made forced her to leave this new establishment!

After a year of recovery in Lyon, Rue Sala, Geneviève was sent to Bon Repos in 2014 where she notably provided a reception service at the entrance to the EHPAD, until the community moved to its new home.

Affected by the successive deaths in her family, Geneviève, in turn, was affected by illness. These last months were trying for her and for the sisters. But they were also times of grace, of advancing towards the happiness promised to those who believe.

Personally, I got to know Geneviève during her novitiate and then especially at Saint-Prix, where she was my assistant in the community of 17 sisters. I have always appreciated her support. Dedicated to the elderly or sick sisters, she also kept the accounts of the community with rigor. It was during these years that I discovered Geneviève's attachment to Nature. She appreciated deeply flowers, fruits and the earth. She had gone back to fashioning statues or other things.

It was also during our community exchanges that I perceived the strength of her faith, her love for Mary and her attachment to the Marist spirit. For the rest, I leave the floor to her since she herself wrote the following a few years ago:

“The Marist spirit lives in me and warms me - when I am cold, when I am afraid, when what I have to live seems more difficult to me, for example, advancing in age and all the problems related – both physical and otherwise. Jeanne-Marie said to me: ‘Look at Mary, your Mother, ask yourself how she would act in such a situation. Ask for her help in all circumstances.And don't let go of her hand.’ "

So Geneviève, since you hold her hand, entrust to Mary the Marist Sisters who are walking through the world today and ask her also to watch over the members of your large family.

Thank you to you for what you have been and for what you have given of yourself to the Marist family.

Sr Marie-Thérèse Terra

Bon Repos 8 2021

Deceased Sisters

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