(The comments of the interviewer are in italics.)

(Mary Joan Wilson, SCN, has always belonged to a community. Being the third eldest of sixteen children, she was always surrounded by a group of people whom she appreciated and loved dearly. The members of Joan’s large family still stay in close touch and gather together whenever possible. Not only can Joan claim place in her beloved family but she is also one of three Wilson girls who entered the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. In addition to three SCNs in the family, Joan’s sister, Margaret Arthur, became an SCN Associate in 1989. With sisters Kitty, Carolyn, and Margaret, they have given many years of service as SCNs and SCNA. Joan looks back on her life with joyous gratitude.)

Joan was born in Howardsville, Virginia May 1933 to Alan Eugene and Mary Emma Patterson Wilson. Mary Emma Wilson herself was from Albermarle County in Virginia, and Alan was a native of Savannah, Georgia. They moved their family from Albermarle County to Roanoke, Virginia, when Joan was eight. By that time there were eight Wilson children, a houseful, but Mary had exceptional homemaking skills, such as budgeting, cooking, scheduling. She gave the girls inside duties, the boys outside.

Alan and Mary Wilson (seated) with their sixteen children
Girls L-R: Lois, Sister Joan, Frances, Sister Kitty, Sister Carolyn, Margaret (SCNA), Bernie, Marilyn, Helen, and Anita
Boys L-R: Michael, Harry, Doug, Joe, Philip, Alan

Mary Wilson managed her growing family so well that she also had time for making decorative linen scarves and tablecloths, as well as laundering linens for the church. She liked to garden, do crossword puzzles, and enjoyed the Lawrence Welk Show. She also worked with the Girl and Boy Scouts and was a member of the Parent Teacher Association. Mary went regularly to the farmers market for fresh produce. “Eat what is in season and you have vitamins enough for the year,” she would often say. In her gentle, caring way she knew how to discipline the children in a kind, firm manner. Mary’s favorite time of the day, however, was midafternoon when she sat in her rocker, with quiet and prayer her companions.

Joan’s father, Alan Wilson, was a generous man but perhaps more firm than Mary. He worked at several jobs until 1946 when he decided to settle on mainly doing construction-related work. That sometimes took Alan away from home and out of state. When he retired, he enjoyed fishing at a small cabin on Smith Mountain Lake, a cabin which he himself had built, and all the family enjoyed. Some of the Wilson men also liked hunting and fishing, and Mary enjoyed cooking the fish and game for the family to enjoy.

Sister Joan Wilson with some of her siblings, the five oldest Wilson children, and her cousin, Suzanne
L-R: Alan, Lois, cousin Suzanne, Sister Joan, Frances, and Philip

The Wilson children attended public school until they moved to Roanoke in 1941 when they enrolled in Our Lady of Nazareth School. SCNs taught at both Our Lady of Nazareth and St. Andrew Schools and eventually the two schools merged into one called Roanoke Catholic. Having their children in a Catholic school had been a strong reason behind the Wilson’s decision to move to Roanoke.

Joan enjoyed her high school years. At Roanoke Catholic, besides studies, she participated in basketball. Outside school times she served as a counselor at a Girl Scout camp for several summers and found time to help her brothers deliver newspapers.

When Joan finished high school, she decided to look for a job. She became a bookkeeper at the Roanoke Times and World News and remained at this job for the next five years. Joan bought her own car while working and assisted at home by giving her parents money from her salary. She found time to vacation at Virginia Beach with friends, but Joan was feeling called to another way of life.

In September 1956, Joan made a life changing decision. With her younger sister, Kitty, she entered the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. At home, Mary Wilson’s youngest was Michael, who was five years old, but she still had twelve at home to share the household burdens. Three years later, in 1959, Joan made first vows and thus began her dedication to God’s people and a life of generous service.

Mary Wilson with her SCN daughters at Nazareth L-R: Sister Kitty Wilson, Mary Wilson, Sister Carolyn Wilson, and Sister Joan Wilson

After her final time of preparation in the Juniorate, Joan’s first mission was St. Elizabeth School in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Sister Lucy Prud’homme was the superior of the convent and Sister Frances Miriam Loker the principal of the school. The latter was a great help to Joan, the fledging fourth grade teacher. After five years in Mississippi, Joan was assigned to teach seventh grade at St. Ann School in Wollaston, Massachusetts. That was a happy assignment although Joan stayed only two years. She does remember that another teacher had to give out her spelling tests because the students could not understand her accent.

Joan’s next mission in 1968 was St. Mildred School in Somerset, Kentucky. There she was the upper grade teacher as well as the principal of the school. Times were changing in the Church after Vatican II, and St. Mildred’s was a blessed place to be. It was a wonderful experience of team ministry where Church and school leaders collaborated for the benefit of the parish. Joan added with delight, “With priests and Sisters working as a team, we were able to accomplish much for the parish. We could plan many innovative, beneficial programs and activities for our people. An experience I well remember is that Fathers Timmel and Knott could not attend an all-priests meeting in Louisville and instead asked me to represent the St. Mildred Parish …a challenge and surprise indeed. I believe we were the first team ministry in the Louisville Archdiocese.”

(The gleam in Joan’s eye and the smile on her face lets one know the remembrance of these years is joy indeed.)

Sisters Kitty, Carolyn, and Joan Wilson at a family reunion

In 1975, Joan participated in Justice ’75, an SCN program which allowed members of the United States Provinces to go to places of need outside the United States for short term ministry. Joan’s trip to India was a memorable time of seeing the effects of abject poverty and being grateful for the service of the SCN women in ministry in schools and hospitals and clinics.

Also in 1975, Joan moved to another parish team ministry, that of Christ the Healer Parish in Edmonton, Kentucky. She remained there for four years before moving to a completely different way of serving others. She became a nurse’s aide at Nazareth Home for almost a year.

In August 1979, Joan went to Presentation Academy where she served as a bookkeeper, her employment before entering the SCN Community.

In 1982, Joan returned to her home state. In Salem, Virginia she served as a pastoral associate at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. She was involved in parish ministry for the next four years: two years at Salem and two years at St. Ladislas Parish in Columbus, Ohio, before going back to Roanoke, VA, for two more years to care for her parents.

Sister Joan Wilson at Sister Dolores Greenwell’s home when working with the Appalachian Outreach Program

After serving at the Motherhouse for two years, Joan was called to a special ministry connected to St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. She became a counselor with the Appalachian Outreach Program. In her own words she described this ministry:

“Serving in a twelve-county area in Eastern Kentucky, I followed up with patients after they have been discharged from St. Joseph Hospital and St. Joseph East. I contacted some patients and their families by phone. Many I visited in their homes. My role was to provide pastoral and social care while following up with their medical care. It was a needed ministry started by Sister Betty Shelton, SCN in 1990.”

Joan reminisced further, “Sometimes on my way home from visiting families in Pike County, I would spend the night with Sister Dolores Greenwell, who was a home health nurse in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. This was always enjoyable, to spend time with Dolores and connect with one of our Sisters.”

Joan shared this ministry, at different times, with both Sister Betty Shelton and Sister Ann Kernen. Their residence during those years was in either Campton or Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Joan remained at that ministry for twenty-one years, surely a blessing for all whom she served and a benefit to the ministry of St. Joseph Hospital, as well.

Sisters Betty Shelton and Joan Wilson working together with the Appalachian Outreach Program

Since 2011, Joan has been retired at Nazareth where she finds many ways to be of service, She may be at the reception desk, where she is very experienced. She may be assisting at the health office or she may be helping with funeral arrangements for a recently deceased Sister. Joan may be in the community garden, looking at her small patch or she may be making tiny decorative boxes from used Christmas cards. Like her amazing, gifted mother, Joan knows how to be of service.

(Over and over Joan said to me that in her large family she learned to share. It is no surprise, then, that her life would be one of service, of finding ways to care for others.)

Sister Maria Vincent Brocato, SCN

October, 2025

Interested in reading more Marie Menard Committee stories? Click here: https://nazareth.org/tag/marie-menard/