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January 22, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
OBITUARIES
Rest in
Peace
Maureen Ariente
Oct. 7, 1938 - December 8, 2018
Maureen Foley Ari-
ente of San Jose entered
eternal life on Decem-
ber 8, 2018.
Born in San Jose, CA,
she was the daughter of
Armand and Ellen Foley. She attended
St. Patrick’s Grammar School, Notre
Dame High School, and Heald Busi-
ness College.
Maureen served as an employee
of the Diocese of San Jose for 31 years
before retiring in 2012.
Maureen is survived by her chil-
dren: Kevin Ariente, Sister Donna
Ariente, IHM, Monica Ariente, Venisa
Ariente, Teresa Jones and her husband
Don, and Shawn Ariente.
n lieu of owers, donations may e
made to Camilla Hall (the IHM Sisters
Convent Home & Healthcare Center),
100 Maxis Drive, Malvern, PA 19355.
Sister M. Eleanor Rizzi, SHF
June 25, 1926 – December 7, 2018
Si ster M. Elea nor
Rizzi died sudden ly
at the Motherhouse of
the Sisters of the Holy
Family in Fremont on
December 7, 2018, at the
age of 92. She was born Eleanora Rizzi
on June 25, 1926, in Newark, N.J., and
joined the Sisters from Holy Cross
Parish in San Jose on July 2, 1953, at
the age of 27.
After serving in various religious
education capacities in parishes around
the Bay Area, Sister Eleanor left religious
education and began studies as a child
and family counselor. She served with
the Children’s Counselling Center in
Santa Clara from 1985 to 1995. She then
began working as a child and family
counselor for the anta lara nifi ed
School District in Santa Clara, where she
remained until health concerns forced
her to retire in 2010. After moving to
the Holy Family Sisters’ Motherhouse
in Fremont, she continued to serve as
a volunteer with Abode Services until
her health demanded further cutbacks.
Sister Eleanor’s laughter is legend-
ary among her Sisters, friends and fam-
ily, as is her love and compassion for
the children she served, helping them
to deal with their fears and problems.
Donations in memory of Sister El-
eanor can be made to the Sisters of the
Holy Family, P.O. Box 3248, Fremont,
CA 94539.
Sister Joan Panella, SNDdeN
August 27, 1940 – December 30, 2018
Sister Joan (Marie
Angele) Panella, SND-
deN, A native of San
Francisco, Joan entered
the Sisters of Notre
Dame in 1958, and took
the name, Sister Marie
Angele. She taught in Notre Dame
elementary schools in Salinas (Sacred
Heart and Madonna del Sasso), Camp-
bell, Folsom and at Notre Dame High
School, Alameda.
After receiving a Master’s of Social
Work and a license as a clinical social
worker from Santa Clara University,
she used her natural empathy for oth-
ers at Notre Dame High School in San
Jose, and then in campus ministry at
San Jose State. While there, Sr. Joan
recognized the pain and unmet needs
of gay and lesbian Catholics and their
families, and encouraged diocesan
support in addressing their needs. She
continued to serve on the committee
to network and provide resources for
individuals, parishes and priests minis-
tering to the LGBT community. Sr. Joan
was also a medical social wor er for fi f-
teen years at the Community Hospital
in Los Gatos, ensuring that those being
discharged were able to access the care
and services they needed.
When the Notre Dame de Namur
Province Center opened in 2003,
Sr. Joan was asked to serve as the
residence administrator. Recently, she
has been enjoying her ministry at St.
Nicholas and St. William Parish in Los
Altos, and her service on the Board of
Directors for Notre Dame High School,
San Jose.
Last May, when Sr. Joan celebrated
60 years as a Sister of Notre Dame de
Namur, Ellen MacLeod Mahon, a long-
time friend, thanked her “for a life-
time of knowing your teasing humor,
your dedication and generosity, your
steadfast determination and your solid
loyalty to friends and anyone in need.”
Sr. Joan referred at that Jubilee time to
a favorite passage from Scripture: “I
know the plans I have in mind for you;
they are plans for peace, to give you
a future fi lled with ho e. eremiah
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e are confi dent that she is now
enjoying God’s loving plans for her.
Preceded in death by her parents,
John and Lucile Panella, Sr. Joan will be
greatly missed by her cousins, Donald
R. Stephens (San Francisco), Brian R.
O’Leary (Modesto), Mary-Kevin Wil-
ley (Elk Grove), and Jeanie Jenks (Red-
mond, OR), many former students and
friends, and her Sisters of Notre Dame.
Memorial contributions may be
made to Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur, 1520 Ralston Ave, Belmont, CA
94002 or at snddenwest.org.
Father Joseph Truong Ky, PSS
March 6, 1929 – December 30, 2018
Joseph Truong Ky
was born March 6, 1929
in the HaNam Prov-
ince, Vietnam. On De-
cember 30, 2018, Father
Ky died at Mercy Mc-
Cune Brooks Hospital
in Carthage, MO. He is one of four
children of Truong Giap and Nguyen
La. He had two sisters, Truong Tri Cuc
and Truong Hue, and a brother, Truong
Duc Long.
Father Ky was educated in the mi-
nor seminary of Hanoi from 1945-1950
and then at the Sulpician Seminaries
in Hanoi, Vinh Long, and Saigon
from 1951-1958. He was ordained on
June 6, 1959 for the Diocese of Can-
tho, Vietnam. He immediately began
teaching at the Cantho Seminary in
South Vietnam (1960-1966). He joined
the Sulpicians for the Province of
France in 1967 and began teaching at
St. Sulpice Seminary of Vinh Long,
South Vietnam (1967-1968). He earned
an M.A. in comparative religion at
the Institut Catholique de Paris (1971)
and another M.A. in sociology at the
Université de Paris (1972). During this
time, he also earned a diploma in Chi-
nese Mandarin at the École Nationale
des Langues Orientales (1970-1972). In
1972 he returned to Vietnam to teach
at the St. Sulpice Seminary of Danang
(1972-1975).
Father Ky was admitted as a full
member of the Society for the Province
of France in 1970.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Fa-
ther Ky came to Honolulu as a refugee.
He was immediately assigned by the
Bishop of Honolulu to be the chap-
lain for the Vietnamese refugees. In
that role, he helped to establish the
Vietnamese Catholic Community in
Hawaii. He served as associate pastor
at Sacred Heart Church from 1975-1980
and then at the Co-Cathedral of St.
Theresa of the Child Jesus from 1980-
1982. He was incardinated into the
Diocese of Honolulu on May 8, 1979.
With the agreements of the Prov-
ince of France and of the US, and
with the approval of the Bishop of
Honolulu, Father Ky was assigned to
St. Joseph’s College, Mountain View,
CA. There he served as the ethnic
advisor to the seminary community
and to the Vietnamese refugees. In the
seminary, he was the wisdom fi gure
highly esteemed not only by the Viet-
namese students but by all. He taught
philosophy, comparative religion, and
Vietnamese literature until the college
closed in 1992.
Upon the closure of the college, Fa-
ther Ky requested early retirement due
to illnesses caused by his diabetes. He
retired to the Vietnamese retirement
community of the Congregation of the
Mother of the Redeemer in Carthage,
MO (a monastery better known by its
former name prior to 2017, The Congre-
gation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix).
Though retired, he continued to work
for the Vietnamese community as
a spiritual adviser and through his
publications: several books, a Chinese-
English lexicon, and articles in the
monthly magazine, Forum of the
People of God (Dien Dan Giao Dan).
ather y was offi cially transferred
from the Province of France to the US
Province on November 15, 2014.