In Memoriam


(1935-2020)

We have all heard people say when challenged to try something new: “Oh, I can’t do that” or “Oh, no. I wouldn’t even think of doing that” and not even try. Susan was not like that. She had a lot of abilities, a lot of gifts and she didn’t bury them. She used them all – and then notice what she did and did not do. She did not just sit back and pat herself on the back and congratulate herself on her accomplishments. No, she was prompted to do more, to learn more, to be better prepared to assist people more. 

In this passage from her funeral homily for Sister Susan Parker, Sister Maria Goretti Browne explored how the Gospel reading for the Mass, the Parable of the Talents, connected to Sister Susan.

Susan Mary Parker was born on November 2, 1935, in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to Harold and Mary Ann (Stock) Parker. She was the oldest of four children, followed by Thomas, Linda, and John.

Harold was born in Port Huron, Michigan, while Mary Ann was a Detroit native. Sister Susan’s earliest schooling was at Vernier Elementary School, followed by a year at St. Paul School. Then the family moved to what was then known as East Detroit (now Eastpointe), Michigan. It was there that Susan met Janet Wright, who also went on to become an Adrian Dominican Sister, and the two became close friends, attending both St. Veronica School and Dominican High School together. Susan and Janet lived on adjacent streets and Janet’s father drove them to school each morning.

Read more about Sister Susan (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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(1928-2020)

As a member of a family where love flourished between mother and father, sister and brother, I developed a feeling of worth as an individual. Loving friendships with boys and girls, men and women in adolescence and adult life have helped me to realize the need to give of myself as well as receive the affection and attention of others. Beyond my need for people I have a great need for a loving relationship with my God.

These words, quoted by Sister Carleen Maly in her homily for Sister Sarah Cavanaugh, were written by Sister Sarah as part of a class assignment at Siena Heights College (University). “Sarah’s life from roots in her loving family extended to desire to share that love with many more as an Adrian Dominican,” Sister Carleen continued. “In her words, ‘I felt impelled to give my entire life to growth in love with Jesus Christ.’”

Sarah Ann Cavanaugh was born on August 24, 1928, in Detroit to Harry and Alice (McNamara) Cavanaugh. The second of Harry and Alice’s seven children – four boys and three girls, born over the course of nineteen years – she was baptized Sarah because she needed to have a saint’s name, but right from the start everyone called her Sally. Everyone, at least, until she entered the Congregation and, she said in her 2016 “A Sister’s Story” video, Mother Gerald disliked the name Sally.

Read more about Sister Sarah (pdf)

make a memorial gift

Memorial 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).


(1936-2020)

Many Detroit residents know well two of the city’s landmarks: the Fisher Building, topped by its “golden tower,” and the Fox Theater. Sister Betty Gibbons’ father had a key role in both buildings’ construction.

“My father, Eugene Joseph Gibbons, was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1905,” her autobiography begins. “He graduated from the University of Detroit with a degree in Civil Engineering and was the managing engineer during the construction of the Fisher Building and Fox Theater in Detroit. A year later this engineering company closed due to the Depression.”

Elizabeth Gibbons, always known as Betty, was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan, on November 26, 1936, to Eugene and Marie (Baribault) Gibbons. Marie was born in France in 1906, but after her mother died when Marie was just three years old, her father, Betty’s grandfather, sent the children to live with relatives in Quebec, Canada. He eventually followed, and the family came to Detroit when Marie was fifteen. She and Eugene married in 1929, just before the Great Depression hit.

After the Depression cost Eugene his engineering job, he went to work for Sears, Roebuck and Company, and when he was promoted to management the family moved to the Chicago area, where the company’s headquarters was. By that time, Betty had two younger siblings: Eugene Louis and Marilyn, known as “Mickey.” Another sister, Claire, was born in Oak Park, Illinois.

Read more about Sister Elizabeth (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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(1933-2020)

“I have been blessed in so many ways and for this, I am grateful.” 

These words concluded Sister Carolyn Nelson’s story of her life, a life which began on January 21, 1933, in Chicago. She was the only child of Edward and Virginia (Schuster) Nelson, but after her father’s sudden death and her mother’s remarriage, she was eventually blessed with a younger sister, Judy, when Carolyn was sixteen years old, and with another sibling whom her parents adopted when Carolyn went to the convent. “My mother and (I don’t like the word) step-father decided that they didn’t want Judy to grow up alone as I had,” she said in her autobiography.

Edward owned a business that often took him on the train between Chicago and Denver. One day he was on the train when his appendix ruptured, and although he made it back to Chicago and a hospital, it was too late to save him. Carolyn was just two years old.

Virginia and her little daughter moved to Detroit to live with Virginia’s parents. The family lived in St. Ambrose Parish, and Carolyn attended the parish school from first grade through high school. Her mother remarried, to Joseph Francis Malley, when Carolyn was six years old.

Read more about Sister Carolyn (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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