Worcester, MA - Sr. Joan Marie Lacasse SNDdeN (Sr. Marie Raphael) went peacefully home to the good God on Fri., Sept. 20, 2019. Sr. Joan was born in Lawrence, Mass., the daughter of the late Leo and Mary (Harkins) Lacasse, and the sister of the late Carol G. Veilleux. She leaves nieces and nephews and her community of Notre Dame de Namur Sisters at Ipswich and Worcester.

Sister Joan entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on Aug. 15, 1955, and professed her first vows on Feb. 2, 1958, and her perpetual vows on July 28, 1963. Sr. Joan received a B.S. degree in Education and Music from Lowell State Teachers College, and her M. Ed form Salem State University in 1965, and later her master's in Art/Liturgy and Worship from Boston College in 1988. Her ministries included St. Augustine, Andover, St. Anthony, Somerville, St. Thomas, Peabody, St. Jerome School Weymouth, St. Joseph Regional School, Salem, N.H., St. and Joseph School, Immaculate Conception Parish, and Holy Trinity Parish, all of Lowell, and also served as Director of Religious Education in St. Robert Bellarmine Andover. She had resided in her retirement at St. Julie Residential Care in Ipswich, and the Notre Dame Long Term Care in Worcester, where she was dearly loved and respected.

Sr. Joan's life will be celebrated at Our Lady Queen Chapel in Ipswich on Fri., Sept. 27, 2019, with a wake at 1 p.m. A Prayer Service at 2 p.m. and Liturgy of Christian Burial at 3 p.m. followed by a burial in Notre Dame Cemetery, Ipswich. Donations in memory of Sr. Joan may be made to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, 30 Jeffreys Neck Road, Ipswich, MA 01938. For online obituary or to post condolences, please visit Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral home at www.ccbfuneral.com.