Date: 03/06/2020
Shortly after Sister Fleurette Kennon passed away in March of 2019, a letter from her attorney arrived at Northern Light Mercy Hospital with quite an announcement. The shy and somewhat reclusive former head librarian of Saint Joseph’s College had barely touched a trust established by her family for her care. Save for a recliner to make her last days more comfortable, Sister Fleurette, the woman known by some as “The Quiet Nun” left behind a trust estate valued in excess of $1 million.
The trust was established by Sister Fleurette’s sister, Mary Kennon, and later added to following the death of her brother, Paul Kennon. Under the terms of the trust, the entire trust estate could have been distributed to Sister Fleurette in the event she was “no longer bound by the vows of poverty.” Sister, of course, remained true to her vows to the very end of her life.
Sister Fleurette lived a life of prayerful contemplation, working at the College and seeing and talking with only her very close friends, namely Sister Joyce Mahany and Sister Mary George O’Toole, with whom she lived for a good part of her life in Standish. Her religious life was preceded by much sadness as a child, including the loss of her mother when she was 12.
Her shy and retiring ways were well known by those in the religious and the college communities. Though she had studied the piano as a student at St. Mary’s School in Augusta, she only played as an adult when she was certain no one could see or hear her. She was the perfect person to head the library at Saint Joseph’s. Her devotion to maintaining an atmosphere of silence there led to the dedication of the Sister Fleurette Kennon Quiet Room.
Mercy Hospital has been blessed with a significant gift from Sister Fleurette (and her family) that will now benefit the plans to support the consolidation of Mercy on one campus as well as Mercy’s mission-based programs.
“She was one of the best whisperers in the world,” said Sister Joyce Mahany in her eulogy. “The impact of her legacy will reverberate for generations of patients and caregivers of Mercy Hospital. She would probably not be thrilled with the attention, but she is surely smiling with the good she has done for so many.”