Sister Jeane Lynch MMM, died peacefully at Sancta Maria Nursing Care Facility in Cambridge, MA on December 11, 2022.

Given the name Jeane Cecile Lynch, she was the third of four children born to Mary Madeline (Fitzpatrick) Lynch and John Edward Lynch on April 24, 1936.

Jeane’s early years were lived with her family in Saginaw, Michigan. When she finished high school, she moved to Kansas to attend the Ursuline College earning an Associate Degree in Arts. It was at this school that she came across a leaflet about the Medical Missionaries of Mary and began the discernment that would eventually lead her to enter MMM on September 17, 1955 and made Perpetual Profession of Vows on March 17, 1964.

During her novitiate in Winchester, Jeane was eager to grow in her relationship with God and share her many talents with the community. Her flare for music and ability to play the organ were welcomed gifts.

Immediately following the novitiate, Jeane enrolled at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Boston School of Tropical Medicine and then transferred to Emmanuel College in Boston where she earned her BA in Biology. After these studies, she spent a year at the MMM International Missionary Training Hospital (IMTH) in Drogheda, Ireland where she gained more experience in biochemistry before being assigned to Dareda Hospital in Tanzania.

Jeane lived a full life mostly in Tanzania and the USA with stints in Sudan and Ethiopia. She excelled in Lab Technology, Tropical Medicine, earning a master’s degree in Epidemiology and then a Dr. of Sc. in Hygiene (Epidemiology) from Tulane University. She was a member of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. Jeane administered numerous projects in nutrition education, supervision of village health care workers while also engaging in social services for the poor. Throughout her years in the USA Jeane was engaged in Vocation Ministry; was a Red Cross Volunteer as well as being a care giver for her mother in Florida for several years. In later years, Jeane transitioned to the ministry of pastoral care/counselling. She became an active member of the Boston Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), completed a Facilitator Training Course and spent a number of years as a support group facilitator for DBSA.

Jeane would be the first to help anyone, at any time, in any place!  She also had a great sense of humor and a brilliant smile reflecting all the love and kindness within.  Wherever she was Jeane made a difference in the lives of those whom she met.
She spent the last years of life living our MMM Healing Charism at Sancta Maria Nursing Care Facility, grateful for the skilled and loving care she received.  She lived as she always had, simply and respectfully.  She was esteemed and dear to other residents who elected her Vice President of the Residents’ Counsel.  We were told that the staff so loved Jeane that everyone wanted to be assigned to her care.

Preceding Jeane in death were her parents, her older sister, Margaret, and younger brother, Joe. She leaves behind her oldest brother, Jack Lynch, a widower and many loving and devoted nieces and nephews as well her MMM Sisters, MMM Associates and many friends. May her dear soul rest in the peace of Christ.