December 24, 2025

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Claire Michel Fortier, of the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis, was celebated on Saturday, December 20, at Our Lady of Victory Church in Plattsburgh.

Sister Claire, a resident of Victory Place Senior Community in Plattsburgh, was called to her heavenly home on December 16, 2025 at CVPH.

She was 93.

The second child of three, she was born Marie Olive Fortier on May 25, 1932, to Ovila and Jeannette (Roy) Fortier in Berlin, New Hampshire. Both her parents, her sister Jeannette Hillman, and her brother-in-law John Hillman predeceased her.

She attended grade school in Berlin, New Hampshire, and then Waterbury Catholic High School in Waterbury, Connecticut. The family then moved to Oakville, Connecticut where Sister Claire worked for four years in the office and factory for Autoyre Co., in Oakville and met the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis who were in St. Mary’s Parish in Oakville. In 1956 she entered the Novitiate of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis in Levis, Quebec, spent some time out in Western Canada, and made her First Profession on August 22, 1958, and her Final Profession on August 22, 1963, at St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut.

Sister Claire obtained her Bachelor of Science Ed. from St. Rose in Albany, and a Certificate of Qualification from the State Ed. Department.

She obtained Certification in Religion from the Bridgeport Diocese and went for a Spiritual Renewal Program in Niagara Falls.

Sister Claire was missioned and taught in schools in Brookfield, Connecticut, and in Plattsburgh and Keeseville, New York. She was also Superior at St. Joseph’s Convent in Brookfield, Connecticut and at OLV Convent in Plattsburgh.

After her teaching career in the primary grades, she happily volunteered at OLV Clothing Store.

In February of 2014, Sister Claire underwent surgeries due to several fractures from a fall, and since then she has been completely retired, but continued visiting the sick Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis in nursing homes.

Sister Claire spent her last years of retirement at Victory Place Senior Community.

Sister Claire Michel Fortier is survived by her sister, Sister Mary Francis Fortier, a cloistered Dominican Nun in North Guilford, Connecticut. She is survived by one niece and two nephews, one great niece and three great nephews, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. She is also survived by her Religious Community, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Louis.

A great deal of thanks to Dr. Gilbert Desmangles and nurse Morgan Bennet, who spent many hours with Sister in her passing.

Arraignments are with the Brown Funeral Home in Plattsburgh, NY.