A well-known figure in hospice and pastoral care in Tangipahoa Civil Parish is retiring and moving to Ohio.
Sister June Engelbrecht OP, who has spent more than 40 years ministering in and around as well as Albany is retiring and moving to Ohio to live at the Dominican Sisters of Peace motherhouse.
A celebration in honor of Sister June was recently held at St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland Church in Albany.
Sister June has touched the lives of many people throughout southeast Louisiana during the past 62 years. She was raised in New Orleans and entered into religious life in 1959. She took her final vows as Dominican sister in 1966.
While she was at Our Lady of Perpetual Church in Belle Chase, she did pastoral work which included teaching people with intellectual disabilities about Jesus at the Belle Chase State School. She taught biology at Dominic High School in New Orleans before moving to Hammond in 1977 to work at Holy Ghost Church.
Sister June started her hospice ministry as a volunteer in 1982 and went on to work as a hospice chaplain for Richard Murphy Hospice. In 1992 she began working for North Oaks Medical Center as the hospice chaplain and retired earlier this year at the age of 81.
Sister June has dedicated her life to helping people prepare for the end of their life and supported their families through the grief of losing a family member or friend.
Sister June can be reached at Dominican Sisters of Peace, 2320 Airport Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43219.