In Memoriam


(1925-2023)

Once upon a time in a Barry University newspaper, “The Flame,” the writer noted Sister Margaret Mary McGill blushed at the suggestion that she was an educational trailblazer. However, given her accomplishments, she was indeed a trailblazer, always open to new challenges, preparing herself to meet them, and she rarely shied away from anything.

Sister Judy Friedel, Chapter Prioress of the Holy Rosary Chapter, said this in her eulogy for Sister Margaret Mary McGill after summarizing Sister’s many years of service as a teacher, school administrator, paralegal specializing in immigration issues, literacy center director, and Peace Corps volunteer. These ministries and her studies took Sister Margaret Mary to several U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Hungary.

She was born in Rhode Island on November 12, 1925, to John and Agnes (Acorn) McGill. Little is known about her younger years other than that she had an older brother named Robert and two younger sisters, Virginia (known as Hope) and Dorothy, and that the children took turns living with their divorced parents.

Her first teachers were the Mercy Sisters at St. Joseph School in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After elementary school she briefly attended Pawtucket East High School, but then went to live with her mother in Florida and completed her high school education at St. Ann School in West Palm Beach. The Adrian Dominican Sisters who made up the faculty there inspired her to religious life, and she entered the Congregation in 1944 right after graduation.

Learn more about Sister Margaret Mary (PDF)

make a memorial giftMemorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

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(1929-2023)

Helen Magdeline Hankerd, born in Chelsea, Michigan, on August 26, 1929, was the oldest of Oleta (Hutzel) and Emmett Hankerd’s seven children. She was followed by, in order, Therese, Mary, Eileen, Paul (known as Bud), Rose Ann, and Jane Cecile.

Helen remembered her childhood as a happy one, and her family was quite close-knit and remained so their entire lives. Sadly, Oleta died in March 1942 when her youngest was born, and Jane Cecile herself died when she was just two years old. Emmett, who owned the Hankerd Pure Oil service station in Chelsea, was determined to keep the family together, even when he had to go to court to ensure he maintained custody of his children. He remained single for two decades until marrying his second wife, Beatrice Doyle, in 1963. Beatrice had been widowed a few years earlier.

Along with her siblings, Helen attended St. Mary School in Chelsea, which is where she first met the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Her high school years were spent at Chelsea High School, across the street from the family home, and after graduation in 1947 she went to work in a local grocery store.

But a long-held call to religious life won out soon enough, even over the scholarship she had been offered by the University of Michigan. In August 1947 she sent a letter to Mother Gerald seeking entrance to the Congregation. “For a long time I have cherished the hope of becoming a Dominican Sister, and now I feel that I am free to fulfill that desire,” she wrote. She was about to turn eighteen, she added, and her two next oldest sisters would both be in high school and able to carry on the work at home.

Read more about Sister Helen (PDF)

make a memorial giftMemorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

Leave your comments and remembrances (if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link).


(1938-2022)

A fortuitous move from Beloit, Wisconsin, to Rockford, Illinois, brought Teresa Josephine Disch to the place where she would eventually meet the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Teresa was born on March 17, 1938, in Beloit to Casper and Josephine (Finnegan) Disch. At some point after her birth, the little family moved to Rockford because Casper’s employer had transferred him there. Three more children would in time be born to the couple: Richard in 1939, Rita in 1941, and Robert in 1947.

“My relationship with my parents was very good,” Sister Teresa wrote in her autobiography. “I experienced love, trust and encouragement. They challenged me to do my best and assume responsibility within and beyond our household.”

Her elementary schooling came from the Sisters of Loretto at St. Peter School. High school was spent at Bishop Muldoon High School, where she had the Adrian Dominican Sisters as her teachers and enjoyed many opportunities for leadership development.

Read more about Sister Teresa (PDF)

make a memorial giftMemorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

 

Leave your comments and remembrances (if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link).


(1939-2022)

In her eulogy for Sister Helen McAllister, Sister Judy Friedel, Chapter Prioress of the Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, described Sister Helen this way:

Helen was a people-person, a devoted family member, a dedicated teacher and co-worker, a committed family member, friend to many. The four pillars of Dominican life were foundational to her growth as a person. Her life was lived fully, remaining close to family and friends, with a very tender heart for God’s little ones. She loved people, parties, travel.

Helen Diana McAllister was born on March 11, 1939, at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois. She was the first child born to Thomas McAllister, who worked as a clerk for the Chicago Stock Exchange, and his wife, Margaret Helen (Paschke).

The family lived in Little Flower Parish, on Chicago’s South Side, until 1941, not long after another daughter, Judy, was born. They then moved to an apartment on South Yale, across the street from St. Carthage Church and School. In time, three more children – Rosemary, Dennis, and Susan – entered the family.

Helen attended Yale Public School for kindergarten and half of first grade and then was enrolled at St. Carthage School. It was here that she first met the Adrian Dominican Sisters, initially in the person of Sister Catherine Siena Fisher, her first-grade teacher. “She was very strict; in fact, I think I was a bit afraid of her,” Sister Helen said in her life story as she recounted the time she got in trouble for talking with her best friend and did not tell her mother about it … only to have both her parents find out from Sister Catherine Siena that same day at an open house.

Read more about Sister Helen (PDF)

make a memorial giftMemorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

 

Leave your comments and remembrances (if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link).


Cemetery of the Adrian Dominican Sisters

Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance. 


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