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(1929-2021)
Sister Theresa Sinnamon, formerly known as Sister Josette Marie, died on Friday, November 26, 2021, at the ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian, Michigan. She was 92 years of age and in the 73rd year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sister Theresa was born in Detroit to Harry and Irma (Demaire) Sinnamon. She graduated from St. David High School in Detroit and received a bachelor’s degree in history from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian and a master’s degree in education from Barry College (University) in Miami Shores, Florida.
Sister spent 27 years ministering in education in Detroit, Grosse Pointe Woods, Ypsilanti, and Adrian, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; St. Petersburg and West Palm Beach, Florida; and Assumption (Swanton), Ohio.
She also served in various other ministries for 32½ years as secretary, pastoral minister, office manager, receptionist, and administrative assistant in Adrian, Detroit, Roseville, Troy, Taylor, and Warren, Michigan. This includes her service for five years as executive secretary for the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian, 10 years as administrative assistant for the Nokomis and Great Lakes Chapter offices in Detroit, and 1½ years as general manager of the Development Office at Siena Heights College.
Sister Theresa became a resident of the Dominican Life Center in Adrian in 2015. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Harry and Lawrence. She is survived by two brothers, James Sinnamon (Vel) of Clinton Township and Edward Sinnamon of Livonia, both in Michigan.
Due to COVID-19 mitigation protocols, the Dominican Life Center is closed to all guests or visitors until further notice. All are welcome to participate in Sister’s wake and funeral via live stream.
The Vigil Prayer will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 30, 2021, in St. Catherine Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 1, 2021. Prayers of Committal will be held in the Congregation Cemetery.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.
Sister's Prayer Card (PDF)
Worship Aid (PDF)
Download video. Videos will be posted for 4-6 weeks, then removed.
Left: Theresa at 4 years of age. Center: First Holy Communion, 1936. Right: Graduation from St. David High School, Detroit, 1947
Left: Members of the Sinnamon family are: back row, from left, Harry, Jr., Edward (carried by his father) Harry, and mother, Irma; and front row, from left, Theresa, Jim, and Larry.
Right: Meeting as a Mission Group in 1997 were: back row, from left, Sisters Mary Mackert, Mary Elizabeth Crimmins, Theresa Sinnamon, and Irene Marie Kerich; middle row, from left, Sisters Virginia LaTourelle, Gertrude Sitzmann, Marie Therese Emery, and Joan Sopha; and front row, from left, Sisters Dorothy Thielk, Therese Craig, Marion Coppe, and Rosemary Zuccaro.
Left: Sister Theresa prepares to receive the St. Joseph Academy Alumni Award. Right: Celebrating their Jubilee at St. Gertrude Church and Barton House in April 1998 are, from left, Sisters Theresa Sinnamon, Declan Foss, Leona King, Dorothy Rudolph, Dorothy Worthy, Theresia Scheuer, Marie Celestine Guttman, and Barbara J. Carroll.
Members of the 2008 Diamond Jubilarians, August Crowd, are: back row, from left, Sisters Patricia DeMay, Theresa Sinnamon, Angelica McGuire, Dorothy Worthy, Barbara J. Carroll, and Audrey Hull, and front row, from left, Sisters Ann Marie Meagher, Mary Declan Foss, Margaret Ann Reardon, Margaret Karam, Theresia Scheuer, and Ann Benedict Williams.
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(1942-2021)
Sister Adrienne Schaffer, formerly known as Sister Leo Anthony, died on Sunday, November 21, 2021, at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. She was 79 years of age and in the 60th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sister Adrienne was born in Detroit to Leo and Hildegarde (Ettinger) Schaffer. She graduated from St. Ambrose High School in Detroit. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian and a Master of Education in Special Education from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Sister Adrienne spent 31 years ministering in education in Tallahassee, Florida; Adrian and Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and Fairbanks, Alaska. This includes four years as elementary principal at St. Gerard School in Detroit, one year as junior high school research coordinator, and four years as administrative supervisor for the Congregation-sponsored Dominican High School in Detroit, and seven years as an elementary teacher at the Congregation-sponsored St. Joseph Academy in Adrian. She served the Congregation for 16 years in the Development Office and for three years as the Director of the Dominican Center for Religious Development in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Sister Adrienne was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Keith L. Schaffer and Kenneth R. Schaffer. She is survived by her sister-in-law, loving nieces and nephews, and her Adrian Dominican Sisters.
The Vigil Prayer will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 23, 2021, in St. Catherine Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 24, 2021. Prayers of Committal will be held in the Congregation Cemetery.
Left: Sister Adrienne with her brothers and parents Leo and Hildegarde Schaffer. Right: Postulants Elsa Charles and Adrienne Schaffer.
Left: Sister Adrienne in Alaska. Center: Sisters Grace Dennis and Adrienne Schaffer.
Left: Sisters Adrienne Schaffer and Norma Dell. Right: Sister Adrienne Schaffer presenting a Dominican High Alumni award to Sister Tarianne DeYonker.
Left: Sister Adrienne Schaffer, Carol Rose, and Sister Janet Hudspeth. Right: 2011 Golden Jubilarians Sisters Adrienne Schaffer, Judith Zynda, Mary James Hickey, Mary Keefe, and Attracta Kelly, former Prioress.
(1927-2021)
Sister Noreen Marie George, baptized Mary Elizabeth George, died on Thursday, November 11, 2021, at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian. She was 94 years of age and in the 77th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation. Sister Noreen Marie was born in Flint, Michigan, to Ernest and Margaret (O’Connor) George. She graduated from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian and received a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian and a master’s degree in Latin from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Sister spent 56 years ministering in education in Detroit, Midland, and St. Joseph, Michigan; Georgetown, South Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; and Wilmette and Westmont, Illinois. These years included six years as principal at Regina High School in Midland; two years in administration at Lake Michigan Catholic High School in St. Joseph; six years as assistant principal at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, a sponsored institution of the Congregation; and 19 years as principal at Holy Trinity in Westmont. She also served as elementary librarian for three years in River Grove, Illinois, before retiring in 2001. Sister Noreen Marie became a resident of the Dominican Life Center in Adrian in 2020. She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters: Margaret “Peg” O’Brien and Miriam Patricia George; and four brothers: Father John “Jack” George, Eugene George, Robert George, and Donald George; and her aunt Sister Miriam Patricia O’Connor, OP, also an Adrian Dominican Sister. She is survived by loving nieces and nephews and her Adrian Dominican Sisters. Due to COVID-19 mitigation protocols, the Dominican Life Center is closed to all guests or visitors until further notice. All are welcome to participate in Sister’s wake and funeral via live stream. The Vigil Prayer will be held at 7:00 p.m. Monday, November 15, 2021, in St. Catherine Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, November 16, 2021. Prayers of Committal will be held in the Congregation Cemetery.
Left: Sister Noreen Marie with her parents, Ernest and Margaret George. Right: Teaching at Regina High School in Midland, Michigan, in 1965 are: back row, from left, Sisters Mary Fides (Julia) McCarthy, Carl Marie (Jean) Librizzi, and John Helen Doyle, and front row, from left, Sisters Grace Esther Kimer, Noreen Marie George, and Alice Anne Van Acker.
Right: Sister Noreen Marie George poses with a banner made by Sister Carol Fleming on behalf of St. Cletus Parish, LaGrange, Illinois, in honor of her 75-year Jubilee as an Adrian Dominican Sister. Center: Sisters Noreen Marie George (left) and Jean Librizzi
Center: Sister Noreen Marie prepares to blow out the candles on the cake for her 90th birthday.
Left: Sister Mary Soher, left, shares a light moment with Sister Noreen Marie George. Right: Members of the 2014 Double Diamond (70-year) Jubilee Class are: back row, from left Sisters Noreen Marie George and Attracta Kelly (Prioress) and front row, from left, Sisters Rosemary Conlon, Mary Catharina Bereiter, Anne Herringer, and Marie Rosanna Flanagan.
(1920-2021)
Her parents may have named her Mary Margaret, but for most of her 101 years of life almost everyone – relatives, friends, and her Adrian Dominican “family” – knew her as “Sis.”
Sis Beh was born on May 27, 1920, in Birmingham, Michigan, to Joseph and Margaret Mary (Mihm) Beh. She was the third of the Behs’ four children, with two older brothers, Joseph and Robert, and a younger sister, Pauline.
She explained the genesis of her nickname in a St. Catherine letter written to Sister Betty Kubacki on July 17, 1980.
Yes, my name is “Sis,” at least this is one of my names, and the one that goes back almost as far as I go back. My family gave me that when I was very young because my two older brothers (2 and 4 years my senior) could not handle “Mary Margaret.” They called me “Little Sister,” eventually shortening it to “Sis.” When we returned to our baptismal names, it seemed that people just automatically returned to calling me “Sis.” This never pleased my grandmother. She used to always say, “with such a pretty name as Mary Margaret and you let people call you ‘Sis.’”
Religious vocations ran in the family; Bob was a priest for many years before leaving the priesthood, while an aunt, an uncle, and several cousins were also in religious life. Sis’s brother Joe was in the seminary himself for a while. And, she wrote in that St. Catherine letter, her mother had been thinking very seriously about entering the convent when she met her future husband at a party and he asked to call on her. “He claimed he knew a good thing when he saw it. I agree!” Sis wrote.
Read more about Sister Mary Margaret (pdf)
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.
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