A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Julia Walsh, D.C., will be celebrated Saturday, May 7, 2016, at 11 AM at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md. Visitation will precede the Funeral Mass at 9:30 AM. Burial will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Emmitsburg. Sister Julia died April 29, 2016, at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg. She was 99 years of age and 77 years vocation as a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
Born in Baltimore, Md., on February 27, 1917, Sister Julia (baptized Loretta Julia) was one of eight children born to John and Delia (Joyce) Walsh. Sister graduated from St. Martin’s Academy in Baltimore in 1936 and entered the Daughters of Charity in December of 1938.
Sister Julia earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in 1947 and her Master of Science Degree in Nursing in 1956, both from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Following initial formation, Sister Julia served as a Teacher at the Home for Catholic Children in Boston, Mass., (1940 to 1943); then at St. Joseph School of Girls in Petersburg, Va., (1943 to 1944). Following nursing school, Sister Julia served as a Nurse and Nurse Supervisor at St. Mary Hospital in Troy, N.Y., (1948 to 1955); and as a Nursing Instructor there (1956 to 1960). Sister next ministered as Assistant Director of Nursing at St. John Hospital in Lowell, Mass., (1960 to 1961). Sister served as Director of Nursing at St. Margaret Hospital in Dorchester, Mass., (1961 to 1968); St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla., (1968); and Sacred Heart Hospital, Cumberland, Md., (1968 – 1970). Sister next served as Nurse Supervisor of Stroke Rehabilitation at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Md., (1970 to 1972). She next ministered as a Nursing Instructor for the American Red Cross in Baltimore (1972 to 1974). Sister served as Director of Nursing at Jenkins Memorial Home in Baltimore, (1974 to 1976); as Clinical Teaching Supervisor at the Soldiers’ Home Hospital in Washington, D.C. (1976 to 1980); as a Nurse at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., (1980 to 1983); as a Nurse at Elizabeth Seton High School, Bladensburg, Md., (1983 to 1986); as a Patient Visitor at De Paul Medical Center in Norfolk, Va., (1986 to 1993); and as a member of the Pastoral Care Department at Providence Hospital, Washington, D.C., (1993 to 1999). In June of 1999, Sister Julia joined the Ministry of Prayer at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg; she served there until the time of her death.
Sister Julia was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings. Two of her relatives also were members of the Daughters of Charity Community–her sister, Sister Margaret Ann Walsh, D.C., died in 2008; her niece, Sister Bernadette Forney, D.C., died in 2013. Sister Julia is survived by many nieces and nephews, and her Sisters in Community.