Sister Lucille Fournier was born Therese, the daughter of Walter and Yvonne (Lambert) Fournier on Feb. 21, 1930, in Lewiston, Maine. She received her education at St. Peter’s School and graduated from the first four-year class of St. Dominic High School. She entered the Dominican Sisters in Valleyfield, Canada, in 1948, where she made her temporary commitment in 1950. She made her final commitment in 1955 in Mortefontaine, France.
She taught in Maine, studied in Rome and oversaw the building of a boarding school in Casablanca, Morocco, and continued to teach in Brookline, Mass.; Staten Island, N.Y., and Davenport, Iowa.
After graduating from Boston College, she was hired to be the director of Parish Education Programs and established a certification program for catechists of the diocesan level in Davenport.
Sr. Fournier served the congregation and her province in various functions and responsibilities. She served as provincial treasurer for several years and was elected provincial prioress for the United States, and held that position from 1976-88.
She attended Marycrest College in Davenport where she obtained a Paralegal Associate Certificate.
She moved back to Lewiston in 1990, where she worked in Lewiston District Court for three years and then took the leadership of the Sabattus local community.
Peace and justice issues were important to her, and she was very much aware of the needs of the poor and sought ways to be of assistance to them. Loaves & Fishes and the Food Pantry sponsored by the Dominican Sisters was a concept formulated by Sr. Fournier in 1997. She was the director of the board and the moving force behind the program. Loaves and Fishes was the passion of her life and she trained and formed many volunteers to continue its mission.
