LEWISTON – Sister Jeanne Nicknair, DW, celebrated her golden jubilee as a Daughter of Wisdom on Sunday, Feb. 1.

Nicknair and the sisters of the Lewiston community renewed their vows at the 10 a.m. Mass at Saints Peter and Paul Church in the presence of relatives, friends and parishioners.

The Rev. Robert Lariviere presided at the Mass and officiated at the renewal of vows. A reception followed in the Dominican Conference Room, which was decorated for the occasion. There were more than 100 guests attending.

Nicknair was born in Eagle Lake, attended grammar school there, high school in South Berwick as a freshman and completed high school in St. Agathe with the Daughters of Wisdom.

She completed her novitiate in Litchfield, Conn., and made her religious profession in 1954. Afterward, she studied at Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth, Va., and received her nursing degree in 1957.

Missionary work called her to Malawi, Africa, where she practiced nursing and midwifery and taught in the villages. She also cared for people with AIDS and taught prevention before her return to the United States in 1994.

Since 1996 Nicknair has been director of the Outreach Program at Saints Peter and Paul, St. Patrick, St. Joseph and Holy Family parishes. She meets the various needs of individuals and families with the goal of helping them build their self-esteem and becoming self-dependent.

Nicknair comes from a family that has given many religious and priestly vocations to the Catholic Church, including the Revs. Leopold Nicknair, Donald Nicknair, OFM, and Bernand Nicknair and Sr. Marie-Paule Nicknair, OP. The latter two are deceased. She has two other sisters, Bernice Ouellette of Fort Kent, and Jackie Glennon, and a brother, Jean-Louis, in New Hampshire.