(1924-2018)

This was a world

-of Nancy Drew and Therese of Lisieux;
-of Cardinal Mundelein and Father P.J. McGuire;
-of President Roosevelt and Blessed Martin de Porres;
-of chance books and St. Patrick’s Day plays;
-of novenas and May crownings;
-of diagramming participles and memorizing poetry.

This was how Sister Dorothy Folliard, in her life story, remembered her childhood in the Chicago of the 1930s. She was the second oldest of five children – four girls and one boy – born to Michael and Margaret (O’Connor) Folliard, Irish immigrants from County Roscommon and County Kerry, respectively, who met in Chicago and married in 1921. Michael was a street car operator, while Margaret oversaw home and family.

Originally, the Folliards lived in St. Columbanus Parish, but when Sister Dorothy was two years old the family moved to St. Laurence Parish, where they lived next door to the convent and could hear the prayers and laughter of the Adrian Dominican Sisters there. “We went to the store with them as ‘companion.’ We loved them in their black cloaks and in their colorful house dresses for Friday night cleaning. We thrived in their school across the street,” Sister Dorothy recalled.

Read more about Sister Dorothy (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.

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(1928-2018)

Although losing my identity as an Edmonds Dominican Sister was a death experience, it was quickly replaced by my resurrection/new life experience of becoming an Adrian Dominican Sister. I have not lost my community, but gained a larger one!

These words were written in Sister Patrice Eilers’ annals for 2004-2005, a year after the merger between the Adrian and Edmonds Dominican communities took effect. And although Sister Patrice spent the rest of her life in Washington – the state where almost all of her seventy years of religious life took place – her writings indicate a constant sense of the new community that becoming an Adrian Dominican Sister had brought her.

Patricia Mary Eilers was born on April 24, 1928, in Seattle, to John (also known as Jim) Fred Eilers and Marie Ethel (Anderson) Eilers. John was born in Le Mars, Iowa, and grew up on a farm in South Dakota. Marie was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and from the age of six lived in Seattle.

Read more about Sister Patrice (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

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(1924-2018)

“Adrian was certainly not in my original plans but very much in His.”

This line from a St. Catherine letter  written by Sister Margaret Karam on June 9, 1980 sums up her explanation of how she came to be an Adrian Dominican Sister. After all, as a young woman, thoughts of religious life had been quite far from her mind.

Sister Margaret was born July 30, 1924, in Nogales, Arizona, to Joseph and Ramona (Carreno) Karam. Her paternal grandparents were Lebanese Christians, while her grandparents on her mother’s side came from Spain to Mexico City and migrated to Nogales when a revolution broke out in Mexico. The Karams and the Carrenos ended up living next door to each other in Nogales, and Joseph and Ramona met and eventually married. Margaret was their eldest child, followed by Joe, Eleanor, and Ray.

Read more about Sister Margaret (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.

(1938-2018)

As Chapter Prioress and General Council member Molly was a servant leader. No matter the role, she was one with the others, bringing unity, clarity, common sense and competence. Time and again she had a remarkable ability to sense tension and, with patience and skill, to reconcile and unite groups.

That description of Sister Molly Giller, made at her wake service by Sister Mary Jane Lubinski, Prioress of the Adrian Crossroads Mission Chapter, sums up just some of the qualities that Sister Molly gave to the Congregation of which she was a part for almost sixty years.

Sister Molly was born on March 2, 1938, in Columbus, Ohio, and given the baptismal name Mary Elizabeth after her mother, Mary Elizabeth Cotter. Her father, Rowland Stanley Giller, was a native Welshman, while her mother was of Irish descent and came from Worthington, Ohio, just north of Columbus.

Read more about Sister Molly (pdf)

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).