Nationality: British
Congregational Register No: 213
D.O.B. 08.07.1920
First Profession: 08.09.1951
Died: 08.01.2008 Aged: 87 years

Barbara Joyce Faulkner was born in London, England.  She came from a Church of England background but was educated in a Catholic convent school in Canterbury, Kent.  From June 1936 until the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, Barbara was employed as a shorthand typist. She then spent a few months at a first aid post before beginning her nursing training in Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham, in February of 1940. This was also the year that Barbara was received into the Catholic Church.

Barbara followed her general nurse training with midwifery training and then worked as a hospital midwife for fifteen months. In January 1946 she became a district midwife in the overcrowded North Kensington area of London. It was there that she came across an MMM booklet entitled ‘A New Missionary Development’. This booklet interested her greatly and she wrote to Mother Mary in July 1947.  Correspondence and visits to Rosemount and Drogheda followed the initial enquiry and Barbara finally entered MMM in May 1948.

After her early formation, Barbara worked in the labour ward in Drogheda and as assistant to the matron.  In 1957, Barbara was assigned to Afikpo in Nigeria, but to her great disappointment, she was unable to complete her tour there for health reasons and returned to Ireland early in 1959.  She was then assigned to Waterford Maternity Hospital and stayed there for the next twenty years, where she was much loved by both staff and patients.

In 1979, Barbara returned to England to be near her elderly and ailing mother.  During this time she worked as matron of a nursing home in Oxford.  Following her mother’s death in 1987 at the age of 93, Barbara moved to Ealing, London, where she worked in the parish as pastoral care Sister and Minister of the Eucharist until she retired in 2006.

Sister Barbara is remembered as a dedicated and popular nurse and a prayerful and committed Sister. She had a pleasant personality and was very obliging and easy to live with.  She is remembered as ‘kindness personified’ and spent most of her spare time visiting people.

Barbara fell in mid-November 2007 and broke her hip. She had a hip replacement operation, and following a period of recovery, she was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for intensive physiotherapy and preparation for independent life in community.  Barbara spent Christmas Day at Denbigh Road with the Ealing and Solihull Sisters.  It was a very special day, much enjoyed by everyone.  Barbara returned to the rehabilitation hospital the same evening and continued to make good progress.  Plans were made for her to return home on 8 January 2008.  That morning, Barbara was transferred to Ealing Hospital complaining of weakness on one side. She slipped into unconsciousness shortly after Sister Anne Curtin arrived to stay with her.  She passed gently away at 9.05 p.m.

Barbara’s funeral Mass was celebrated in Ealing Abbey where she had prayed for so many years and had made many friends.  May this gentle lady rest in everlasting peace.