Sister Joan Maureen Urban, SNDdeN
August 20, 1940 – March 21, 2026
Recording of Mass and memorial.
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John: 8:12)
Joan Maureen Urban was born on August 20, 1940, in Philadelphia, PA. Her parents, Frank Urban and Florence Barr Urban, were also born in Philadelphia. Joan was one of five siblings, including Francis, Florence, Joseph and Anna Marie. Her parents worked hard to provide all their children with a Catholic education. When it came time for Joan to enroll in high school, her parents sent her to St. Maria Goretti High School. It was a new diocesan school for girls staffed by several different religious orders, including the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Joan loved the school and was proud to be part of the first graduating class.
Joan also loved her hometown of South Philly. Years later she would say, “The people there are very simple, very loving. They’re all denominations, and they’re all ethnic groups- all kinds of people. We had the League of Nations in South Philadelphia! When I lived there, it was a wonderful place to be. We took care of one another.”
During high school, Joan was involved in Student Council and various clubs. She loved her teachers, especially the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Their genuine care for each individual student impressed Joan. Joan felt called to follow in their footsteps and asked to join the community. Her parents gave Joan their blessing, and she entered at Ilchester, MD, on August 10, 1958. She professed her first vows on January 22, 1961, and her final vows on July 30, 1966.
After Joan received her bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in 1963, she began a long ministry as a teacher, beginning with the second grade at St. Jerome parish school in Hyattsville, MD. Some years later, Joan said, “My first mission was my best. It was a very special place. Two or three of our Sisters are still serving there where we renewed the face of the earth!” Joan then proceeded to serve in schools in various locations, including Virginia, DC, and Pennsylvania through 1980. Joan recalled “I taught all the grades, but my primary grades, first, second and third, were my forte. Primary grade children were wonderful! They were open! And, you know, they would listen to you.”
After years of teaching, Joan sensed a need for a new direction. She turned to ministering in health care and pastoral care, serving as a Nursing Assistant at Villa Julie and at St. Joseph Hospital. She then participated in the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program at Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC, which, in her words, was “a great grace.” Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Joan served as chaplain at several hospitals in the Washington, DC, area and in Pennsylvania. In 2000, she briefly served as the Assistant Administrator at Villa Julie. Then, for eight years, Joan was a secretary for Trinity Missions in Silver Springs, MD, which was, as she noted, “one of my favorite assignments.”
Joan returned to Villa Julie in 2008, where she was involved in community service and the ministry of prayer until she relocated in early 2021 to Mount Notre Dame Health Center in Cincinnati, OH. For many years she struggled with ongoing health issues, but she left us for heaven’s gates very quickly in the late afternoon of March 21, 2026.
Friends remember that Joan valued friendships, and kept up with one dear friend since the time of her CPE training in DC, and with others as well. “She was a free spirit who marched to a different drummer.” Another friend remembers Joan’s love of visitors to Villa Julie, “lighting up like a Christmas tree whenever visitors arrived.” She enjoyed parties and celebrations and going out to eat. Once she and her friends spent two hours trying to find the place she had in mind! Outback Steakhouse was a place of fond and fun memories for her. And, she was always a “Goretti girl!”
Finally, Joan herself noted, “The following thought has touched my heart and has been a source of great comfort in my retirement: ‘We’re all just walking each other home.’” Welcome home, Joan!
“As the Father has loved me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” (John: 15:9)
Colette Didier, SNDdeN
March 25, 2026