Sister Eileen Joyce, SSJ 1940-2022

Sister Eileen Joyce, longtime teacher, died Feb. 25, 2022, in Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Williamsville, after a short illness. She was 81.

Born Sept. 24, 1940, in Buffalo to Harold and Irene (Manning), Agnes Joyce entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in September 1958. She pronounced her final vows in August 1966. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Mount St. Joseph Teachers College, now Medaille, in 1966.

For 48 years, Sister lived her love of children. She began teaching primary grades in Buffalo in diocesan elementary schools in 1961. Her 11 years at Good Shepherd School, Pendleton, included teaching and administration. She was principal when the school closed in 1987. Children at Our Mother of Good Counsel, Blasdell, knew her as their sixth- through eighth-grade teacher of religion and social studies. In 2004, she became assistant principal of Our Lady of Victory School, Lackawanna.

Sister moved to the Sisters Residence in Clarence in 2011, where she served as an administrative assistant.

A quiet woman with a dry sense of humor, she enjoyed very infrequent visits with her family in Hawaii and working on her stamp collection.

Sister is survived by her sister, Mary Ann Nitta.

A funeral Mass was offered privately.