(1931-2025)

Every now and again, God graces us by sending someone into our lives who is simply guileless. And this would be Charlotte. She didn’t necessarily see the world through rose colored glasses, but she didn’t view the world with suspicion, either. As a spiritual director, Charlotte generally saw people as good, as promising, and as having potential for greater goodness. Thus, she was always willing to invest herself in their growth, and to continue walking with them over the long haul.

This was Sister Carol Johannes’ description of Sister Charlotte Hoefer, founder of the Dominican Center for Religious Development (now called Dominican Center: Spirituality for Mission) in Detroit, in her homily for Sister Charlotte’s funeral Mass.

Sister Charlotte was born on August 3, 1931, in Lafayette, Indiana, at St. Elizabeth Hospital, the facility where her paternal grandfather worked. She said in her autobiography that he and some Franciscan Sisters had come from Germany to found the hospital, and he managed the hospital farm for years.

Her parents, Joseph and Marie (Reuter) Hoefer, actually lived in Chicago, and as soon as their new baby – who was their first child – was able to travel, they returned home. Over the next four years, the couple welcomed two more children, first Rita and then Joseph, who was born the day before Charlotte’s fourth birthday. 

“My parents remarked that he was my birthday present,” she wrote. “They also gave me a large doll cradle which I thought they had given me to take care of my baby brother. I was greatly relieved when I realized my mother was caring for him.”

Their last child, Michael, came into the world not long after Charlotte became a novice in 1947.

Read more about Sister Charlotte (PDF) 

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Charlotte's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Charlotte's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

 

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(1930-2025)

Few people in either the secular or religious world can say they spent fifty years working in the same place, but Sister Marion O’Connor seems to have taken a page out of her father’s work history and then some: Fifty-three years of her life in ministry, from 1964 to 2017, took place at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Illinois.

When she was to be honored by the school at the fifty-year mark in 2014, the school wrote in its announcement of the event:

It is not the longevity of S. Marion’s career that makes her deserving of recognition; it is the way she fulfills her desire to make education come alive for her students by infusing values and relevancy into the curriculum. She has had an extraordinary influence on hundreds of young women. As an Adrian Dominican Sister, teacher, department chair, class moderator and role model, Sister Marion has been a priceless gift to Regina Dominican.

Marion Rita, as she was baptized, was born on June 17, 1930, in Chicago to Jeremiah Joseph and Mary Bridget (Stack) O’Connor. Both Jeremiah and Mary were immigrants to America from County Kerry, Ireland; they met at an Irish dance in Chicago, immediately began dating, and married in 1927.

Jeremiah worked for the New York Central Railroad almost as long as his daughter was at Regina Dominican, serving as a clerk there for fifty years. Mary was a stay-at-home mother to her daughter, who was “an only child that grew up in a loving home filled with laughter and joy,” Sister Marion said in her life story.

Read more about Sister Marion (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Marion's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Marion's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

 

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

(1955 - 2025)

Associate Gerene Starratt, known as Gerry, died on June 29, 2025, at home in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the age of 70 following a brief battle with cancer.

Gerry was born on April 6, 1955, in Dolton, Illinois, to Chris and Dolores Konow. She was the couple’s first child, followed 13 months later by a brother, Chris.

Her father was a veteran of the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Much of his enlistment was spent aboard the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge as an ordnanceman, a job which included having to clear the deck of the bombs that occasionally fell off the fighter planes as they landed. Gerry wrote in her autobiography, “His job was to run onto the deck, pick up the bomb, unscrew the detonator, and throw it overboard.”

When he came home from Korea, he got a job with Illinois Bell and would remain with the various iterations of the phone company for the rest of his working life. Dolores was a stay-at-home mom when the couple’s children were young, later working as an elementary school secretary and then establishing a small bookkeeping business.

After the legendary January 1967 blizzard that unexpectedly dumped almost two feet of snow on the Chicago area in 29 hours’ time, Chris and Dolores became determined never to spend another winter in the snow and moved the family to Florida, where they settled in Fort Pierce.

It was there that, a few years later, Gerry met the man who became her best friend and the love of her life, Christopher, or Kit as he is better known. The couple married in 1974 and went on to have three children, sons Lane and Ian and daughter Valerie.

Kit’s connection to the Adrian Dominicans began in kindergarten at St. Anastasia School in Fort Pierce and continued throughout elementary school and all the way through his years at John Carroll High School. His family was active in St. Anastasia Parish and, when Gerry and Kit first began dating, Mass there was her introduction to the Catholic faith. She had been baptized in the Holland Reformed Church, which her family attended regularly in Chicago, but once they moved to Florida, they did not become affiliated with a church although Gerry went to various churches with friends as the opportunity presented itself.

The first time she attended Mass with Kit, however, “it felt like I had come home,” she wrote in her autobiography. The couple were married at St. Anastasia, and she was confirmed in the faith when their first child was baptized. Both her parents later became Catholic as well.

Gerry and Kit moved to several locations around the U.S. over the years for education and employment. One of their stops was Pittsburgh, where Gerry began her college studies in earnest. She had completed a year at community college after high school, but then marriage, work, and motherhood became her focus for several years. Then, with Kit as her role model, she enrolled at Chatham College (now Chatham University) and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Later, she received her Ph.D. in experimental cognitive psychology at Florida Atlantic University.

Kit became a member of the psychology faculty at Barry College (now Barry University) in 1993, and Gerry joined him there in 2000. She left in 2005 to become an education researcher for the Broward County Public Schools. She returned to Barry in 2011 to teach education research in the Adrian Dominican School of Education and remained there until her retirement.

Being at Barry brought the couple back into contact with the Adrian Dominicans, and in 2016 they both became Associates. 

Gerry was very involved in Associate Life. She also lived out her commitment to the Congregation’s Enactments in many ways, including assisting with Barry’s environmental stewardship efforts and accompanying Barry students to Adrian for the annual Environmental Leadership Experience program. 

She wrote in her autobiography that she viewed her role at Barry as a ministry, because her work helped equip future education researchers to address the problems in U.S. education that often result from inequity, and because, as a first-generation college student herself, she could help young people in that situation overcome obstacles.

In her and Kit’s parish, St. Jerome in Fort Lauderdale, she played a very active role, singing in the Chancel Choir (along with Kit); being part of the Women’s Emmaus ministry, including as a retreat leader; and at one time serving as president of the Home and School Association and as secretary and then president of the School Advisory Board.

Gerry retired from Barry in 2020 but continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member and remained involved with life at the university for as long as she could.

Barry’s statement upon her death included these words:

Dr. Starratt was known for her intellect, grace, and genuine care for the growth and development of her students and colleagues alike.

Dr. Starratt shared a life of service in education and faith with her husband, Dr. Christopher “Kit” Starratt, who also served the Barry University community and retired after 27 years of dedicated leadership. Together, Drs. Gerry and Kit Starratt were Adrian Dominican Associates, a reflection of their deep alignment with the mission and values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Barry University.

… Her contributions will remain a lasting part of Barry’s history and spirit.

 

(1934-2025)

Des Moines, Iowa, was the birthplace and childhood home of Joanne Marie Wimmer, who came into the world at Mercy Hospital there on October 15, 1934. She was the oldest child of James and Alice (Malone) Wimmer, arriving four years before James Michael and twelve years before Susan Kay.

James was a native of Tekameh, Nebraska, while Alice was from Des Moines. At the time Joanne was born, James was working as a barber; later, he became a mail carrier and, at least by the time Joanne entered the Congregation, Alice worked for the telephone company as a clerk.

“My childhood memories are defined by the places we lived,” Sister Joanne said in her life story. Until she was five years old, the family lived on an acre of land south of the Des Moines airport, and “I had much attention there, including my own playhouse.” When it was time for her to go to school, however, Alice decided that they should move to a place where she could send Joanne to school with neighbors. “The country roads seemed too much for her child!” Sister Joanne said.

And so, they moved into town to a home within walking distance of Holy Trinity School, where Joanne attended kindergarten (and got chicken pox, which she shared with her brother). But the house was expensive to heat, and before the next winter, the family moved again, this time to an apartment within a house. Because the basement steps came up into their kitchen, they were responsible for keeping the furnace running in the winter months – a fact which was to become the reason they moved again in a couple years’ time.

Read more about Sister Joanne (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Joanne's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Joanne's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

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