Sister Vivian Boucher — on her 70th Jubilee

PARENTS: Hector and Cecilia Gagnon Boucher
HOMETOWN: Zurich, Kan.
RECEIVED INTO CONGREGATION: March 19, 1947
BIRTH NAME: Rita Marie Boucher

EDUCATION:
Marymount College, Salina (bachelor’s degree in math); College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn. (master’s in administration)

MISSIONS:
1951-1970 Elementary and junior high teacher in Kansas cities of Plainville, New Almelo, Concordia, Leawood, Junction City and Beloit, and Grand Island, Neb., and Chicago
1970-1987 High school math teacher in Beloit, Kan., and Grand Island, Neb.
1982-1987 High school principal, Beloit, Kan.
1988-1999 Elementary school principal, Hanover, Kan.
1999-2000 Elementary teacher, Glasgow, Neb.
2000-2007 Junior high teacher, St. Columbkille Catholic School, Papillion, Neb.
2007-present Substitute teacher and volunteer, St. Columbkille Catholic School

Religious life has been my whole life since I was 16 years old. Religious life is my first priority in everything.

My second priority has been my dedication to Catholic Education. I have found educating young people very fulfilling. There is much satisfaction in seeing a child’s face light up when he or she understands a concept you are presenting.

However,  I experience the most satisfaction when I hear from former students whose lives have improved because of contact with me. It might be a young woman who tells me she is living a much stronger spiritual life because of something I said in religion class or the former student who has become a priest or the young woman who has come back to our school to teach fifth grade or the mediocre student who is now a computer tech working for Warren Buffet or the young man, who was so upset in the seventh grade that I thought he might have a disability, who is now the foreman of a construction company or the young man with a gleam in his eye who told me he was going to be a math teacher.

To me religious life has meant not only serving God but also serving others.