Sister Vivian Boucher — on her 70th Jubilee
December 15, 2016 by Sarah Jenkins
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.
Congratulations! Wow! What an accomplishment. Have to say you were always my favorite teacher. You were the best math teacher hands down.
You gave me a love of math I would never have had. I even passed it on to my daughter, using your examples to teach her alternative ways to learn math.
Now my daughter is a HS math teacher in Scott City (4th year).
Congratulations! Thank you for everything. You were one of my favorites, 7th grade, St. John’s in Beloit, KS.