Sister Barbara Noland

Location – Center, NY

Barbara Noland was born October 26, 1937 in Brookfield, MO to Helen (Roe) and George L. Noland. She had one brother, Jim. Barbara graduated in 1955 from Mountain Home High School in Mountain Home, Idaho.

Barbara entered the Maryknoll Sisters December 30, 1959 at their novitiate in Valley Park, MO after earning an R.N. in 1958 from St. Alphonsus Hospital, Boise, Idaho. She professed First Vows August 22, 1962 in Valley Park and Final Vows June 24, 1969 in Guatemala.

In 1962 Sister Barbara moved to the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY where she studied at Mary Rogers College at the Center. From 1963 to ’64, she gave Congregational Service at Bethany, the Sisters’ Healthcare and Nursing Home, only walking distance from the Maryknoll Sisters Center. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1965 from Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I. Sister Barbara also pursued studies at the American Academy of Art and at the Ray Vogue School, both in Chicago.

Sister Barbara’s first mission assignment was to Jacaltenango, Guatemala where she served from 1966-‘72 as Director of Nursing Service in the Maryknoll Sisters Hospital there. Later, Sister Barbara moved to Santa Ana, El Salvador, where she formed pastoral health teams and trained rural health leaders.

In 1986, she moved to El Petén, Guatemala, where she worked with the women giving courses in basic evangelization, personal development, health care and leadership.

Sister Barbara also worked in San Andrés, Sajcabajá, El Quiché, Guatemala. There she presented monthly programs in the parish and in villages promoting personal, communal and spiritual development among the Maya and Quiché women of San Andrés Sajcabajá.

Sister returned to NY November 4, 2018 for medical assistance after having fallen in Guatemala.