Lorraine A. Nicely of Chemainus, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, must have been quite surprised when she woke up dead on January 23, 2025. She was 89, but thought she would live another 10 years at least. Now she is living in a new way the spirituality she practiced, which was the motivating factor in almost everything she did. It was why she served 27 years as a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, was active in the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC/ACSS) for over 40 years, and why she developed Kukui Fountainhead Retreat Center on 10 alpine acres in Devon, Alberta. She operated the spiritual renewal center with its gardens, its greenhouses and its 7-bedroom home for 18 years. You could go there, connect with the oneness of nature, pray, tend crops and eat healthy food.
She told the coyotes at Kukui to stay away from her beloved cat, Katrina, and they did. And when Katrina finally died, Lorraine remained in touch with her spirit. On multiple occasions, Katrina somehow communicated her advice to Lorraine on important decisions.
She was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.  As traumatic as that must have been, it uniquely qualified her to counsel other abuse victims.  Her years in the convent and as a CASC/ACSS certified Psycho-spiritual Therapist and Supervisor-Educator also qualified her as a counselor for members of two religious communities in eastern Canada as well as the L’Arche Community and countless individual clients in the greater Edmonton area.
In 2018 Lorraine was awarded CASC/ACSS’s highest honor, the Verda Rochon Distinguished Service Award. In 2021 she received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta. That nomination paper said she made “transformative contributions to the profession of pastoral counseling and the spiritual and educational formation of pastoral counselors from all faiths in Canada and internationally.” Other professional contributions made by Lorraine over her years in Canada include:
***Her four years as the President and Past President of CASC/ACSS at a time when major changes to the Association’s name, corporate structure and Code of Ethics were occurring.
***Her role as Director of Training and Executive Director of the Pastoral Institute of Edmonton and as a co-founder of the Community Counseling Center in Edmonton.
***Her function as one of the founders of a master’s of arts degree at St. Stephen’s College, now known as the Masters of Psychotherapy and Spirituality (MPS).
As a Sister of Charity, Lorraine taught and served in 13 schools and parishes in Montana, Wyoming, California, Missouri and Kansas. Sr. Maureen Hall, who worked with her in Butte, Mont., described her as “a beautiful, gentle soul” and “a calming presence.” As a faithful friend and compassionate psycho-spiritual therapist, Lorraine taught and served in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Margaret Clark, who is one of four 40-year Sophia Sister friends of Lorraine, described her as “a woman of vision” and “ever expanding in her ability to love others to the very end of her life.”
She leaves three brothers and a sister in the Kansas City area, R. Stephen Nicely (Marcia) of Mission, Thomas M. Nicely of Overland Park; Kathleen R. Roberts (Charles) of Olathe and David M. Nicely of Olathe. She is preceded in death by her parents, Loren T. Nicely and Amy A. Tubbs Nicely and a brother, Raymond L. Nicely. With cremation, services will be scheduled later in Edmonton and Kansas City.
One thing about Lorraine when talking with her siblings on the phone was that she had a hard time saying goodbye. She always had to tell you she loved you two or three times first. This same sense of Lorraine’s constant and unconditional love for family, friends, colleagues and clients was at the heart of knowing her. So it wasn’t surprising that the last entry in her diary January 19 at 10:55 p.m. ended with:
“I love you ALL so much.”