Sister Joan (Evelyn) Utecht was born on October 28, 1934 to Alexander and Mathilda (Barten) in St. Nicholas, Minnesota, the fifth child in a family of seven, four girls and three boys. In 1957, she entered the scholasticate at St. Paul’s Priory and chose the name of her patron saint, St. Joan of Arc. She entered the novitiate on June 1, 1958 and made her first Profession of Vows on July 11, 1959. She attended the College of St. Catherine, earning a B.A. in Elementary Education in 1962 and a Master’s Degree in Counseling in 1972 from the University of St. Thomas, and a Master’s of Science in Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1989.