Helen Antoinette Will was born on May 15, 1944, the third of five children of Victor and June (Cornell) Will in Evansville, Indiana. She was baptized at St. Benedict Church on May 28, 1944.

The family moved to St. Louis when Helen was a year old. Helen attended St. Francis de Sales School, where she was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. In March of her eighth-grade year, Helen went to a day of recollection at Sancta Maria in Ripa. She met a girl who had signed up for the aspiranture and began to think seriously about religious life. With her parents’ blessings, she entered the aspiranture as a freshman the following year. Helen completed her high school education in three and a half years and entered the candidature in January of her senior year.

Helen received the candidate’s veil at Sancta Maria in Ripa on Jan. 1, 1962. With her classmates, Helen was received into the novitiate in the investiture ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Louis on July 31, 1963, and was given the name Marie Juanita in honor of her aunt. She professed first vows on Aug. 1, 1964, and final vows on Aug. 1, 1969.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in music theory from the former Notre Dame College, St. Louis, in 1965 and a master’s degree in mathematics education from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1977. Sister Marie Juanita ministered in elementary education for 33 years. She taught in Missouri at St. Joseph in Scott City; All Souls in Overland; Our Lady Queen of Peace in House Springs; St. Anthony in Sullivan; and Blessed Sacrament and St. Gabriel the Archangel in St. Louis. She taught in Illinois at St. Peter Cathedral in Belleville and was principal at Sacred Heart in DuQuoin.

Beginning in 2000, she served for seven years as a staff member in the finance office at Notre Dame High School in St. Louis. She joined the staff of The Sarah Community in Bridgeton as the SSND transportation coordinator in 2008.

Sister Marie Juanita enjoyed crocheting and gardening. She was an excellent music teacher and enjoyed being a choir member. She became interested in Native American heritage and grew to love the rituals and prayers of our indigenous ancestors.

Sister Marie Juanita volunteered to teach in the Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Program in St. Louis, providing individualized English language tools to foreign-born adults in their homes. During several summers, she volunteered as a tutor for children in the Osyka (Mississippi) Reading Program. As transportation coordinator at The Sarah Community, she made doctor appointments for the sisters, scheduled drivers, kept an accurate record of appointment visits, etc. She crocheted a prayer shawl for each of the sisters at The Sarah Community.

Burial was in the Sancta Maria in Ripa Cemetery.