Sister June Walsh (Formerly Sr Mary Antonita)
June Rosalie Walsh was born in Dunedin on the 6th June 1931. She was the youngest child of James and Jane Walsh. She had two sisters, Mary, and Eileen, and one brother, Desmond. Shortly after she was born, the family moved to Wakefield, Nelson.
June’s father died when she was one, leaving her mother to raise her family of four children on her own. June spoke with great love and admiration of her mother and of how she coped in those years in trying to make ends meet. The parable of the widow who gave all she had, touched June deeply. June was eighteen when her mother died.
June was educated at Wakefield Primary School and Sacred Heart College, Nelson. Not long after leaving school, she entered the Novitiate, and was given the name, Sr Mary Antonita.
After Religious Profession in January 1952, June took up her mission of teaching, and for the next 26 years taught children in the Junior classes in both North and South Islands. Several past pupils whom June taught at Sacred Heart, Addington, attended her Vigil and funeral and shared fond memories of her kindness, and interest in them which went beyond the classroom.
When her teaching years came to an end, June became an Industrial Chaplain. She was very effective in her outreach to people in factories and other workplaces and ministered in this way in the Christchurch and the Waikato areas. She also used her outreach to be involved in other pastoral and parish situations. June was outgoing, gracious, and friendly. She was kind to others and had a ready smile. Even in her very last days she was considerate and other-centred, not wanting to be a bother to anyone.
Industrial Chaplaincy finished in 1995. June then went to the Generalate in Rome where her culinary and hospitality gifts were appreciated and enjoyed by the Sisters there for the next three years. June enjoyed Rome. She had previously been there in 1980 when she participated in Spiritual Life Session 1.
From 2001 – 2003, June lived in Bishop Snedden Village in Waikanae where she provided pastoral care and support to the men and women living there.
June had so many gifts which she shared with others. She had a lovely singing voice and enjoyed music. Her capacity for homemaking, cooking and taking care of others, enriched the lives of the Sisters with whom she lived. She moved from community to community, and from parish to parish, blending her community service with pastoral outreach. She was both practical and hardworking. Many fund-raising efforts have benefitted from her craft work and hand work over the years.
June had a simplicity and detachment from material possessions. She needed very little and asked for very little. She was a positive and hopeful person. This stemmed from her own spirituality. The readings she chose for her Requiem Mass reflected a consoling experience of God. Her favourite psalm was Psalm 63. O God, you are my God, for you I long … The hymns for her Mass – ‘Come as you are’… ‘Gentle as Silence’ … ‘How Great Thou Art’… showed a deep trust and love for God.
In 2012, June moved from Petone, Lower Hutt, to live in Mission Rest Home in New Plymouth as a boarder. (‘Boarder’ is the term given to someone who is not yet Rest Home level of care, but who is supported by living in that caring environment). Here, she cared for the Chapel and took on the responsibility of setting up the altar for Mass.
In 2018, when Mission Rest Home closed, June felt she was not independent enough to live at Adele Senior Living, which is for independent Seniors, and she asked to move to Nazareth Care in Christchurch where her wish to live with RNDM Sisters in a Catholic environment, and to be nearer to her family, could be realised.
To enable her to go to Nazareth Care, June needed to be living in the Canterbury Health Board area and in December 2018, she moved to the Addington Community to enable this. Three months later, she became a Rest Home resident in Nazareth Care.
Over the next four years, June’s health gradually declined. In May 2023, she was admitted to Christchurch Hospital with pneumonia. She died peacefully on 24th May, the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.
Her Requiem Mass was celebrated in the Nazareth Care Chapel by her cousin, Father Christopher Martin SM along with three other priests, one being Father Dan Doyle who had been taught by June.
We are grateful to June for the gift that she has been to us and to everyone to whom she has ministered in her long and interesting life.
May this valiant RNDM woman now rest in peace.