(1938-2022)

When Mary Elizabeth Dougherty, the future Sister Grace, was born on February 23, 1938, one of the happiest members of what came to be known as the “Dougherty Clan” was the oldest child, Al, who had told his mother “not to come home without a baby sister. I have enough brothers!”

Indeed, there were already three Dougherty boys: Al, Chuck, and Patrick; then, six years after Mary Elizabeth’s birth, Bob came into the family. “The fact that I am the only girl with four brothers has always delighted, and I must admit, spoiled me,” Sister Grace wrote in her November 26, 1980, St. Catherine letter. 

Mary Elizabeth and her brothers were born in Chicago to Albert and Mary Grace (Bowling) Dougherty. Albert was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and raised on a farm near Winner, South Dakota. He went to Chicago as a teenager to live with an aunt and complete his high school education. One of his neighbors happened to be Mary Grace, whose family had come to Chicago from Kentucky when her father took a job with the Illinois Central Railroad. A few years later, in 1930, Albert and Mary Grace, who was always known as just “Grace” or “Gracie,” married in their parish church, St. Philip Neri.

Albert, like both his uncle and his father-in-law, worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, while Grace was a salesperson for the Fannie May candy company. The family lived in St. Felicitas Parish and the children all attended the parish school.

Read more about Sister Grace (PDF)

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

 

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(1928-2022)

We thank you, Laura, for your example of compassionate giving and so much dedicated service. In the words of the Gospel you have chosen,  you have indeed been salt and light for many for 75-plus years.

Sister Rosemary Asaro, Assistant to the Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, wrapped up her eulogy for Sister Laura Pesick with these words, honoring a woman who had spent much of her life being a caring presence to family, friends, and students ranging from first-graders to adults to special-needs children.

Sister Laura was born on June 15, 1928, in Detroit to Norman and Margaret (Cummings) Pesick, and was baptized Laura Mary. She had a twin sister, Norma, and an older brother, Joseph, born almost two years prior.

Norman was a Detroit native whose grandparents were immigrants from what was then known as Bohemia. He attended the Packard Trade School in Detroit and became a tool and die maker. Mary was an immigrant from Mt. Forest, Ontario, Canada, who had graduated from nursing school at St. Mary Hospital in Detroit but after marrying Norman and beginning a family stayed at home to care for the children. During World War II, she served as a “block nurse” during the neighborhood’s regular air-raid drills.

Read more about Sister Laura (PDF)

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

 

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(1942-2022)

I take great pride in our Congregation and am grateful for all it has, and still stands for, and all it has afforded me. It is a privilege to have been called to it and to participate in its life and growth.
 
I hope to grow in age and wisdom with grace, to pay attention to what is really important, to share the boundless gifts I have received and be patient with myself as I more and more let go – of things and places and what would separate me from the love of God.
 
This passage is how Sister Anita Chiappetta ended her autobiography, written in 2014 during the many years she served the Dominican Midwest Chapter as its administrative assistant.
 
Sister Anita was born on December 13, 1942, in Chicago. Her birthday fell on the Feast of St. Lucy, a saint to whom the family was particularly devoted since Anita’s paternal grandmother suffered from an eye disease. Hence, Anita was given the middle name of Lucile.
 
Her father, Vincent, was born in the U.S. of Italian immigrants, but when he was eight months old the family returned to their homeland because of his mother’s health. They came back to America when he was sixteen and settled in the Grand Crossing area of Chicago’s South Side. As it so happened, the Cavoto family and their young daughter Mary lived nearby, and at some point, Vincent and Mary – who were eleven years apart in age – met. The couple married in 1937, when Vincent was twenty-nine and Mary was eighteen.

Read more about Sister Anita (PDF)

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

 

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(1922-2022)

When Sister Mary Catharina Bereiter died on May 23, 2022, she was about a month past the celebration of her 100th birthday, an occasion marked by many well-wishers, proclamations marking the occasion from Adrian’s mayor and state senator, and a papal blessing from Pope Francis.

Mary Barbara, as she was baptized, was born on April 16, 1922, in Chicago to Edward and Mary (Orzali) Bereiter. Edward and Mary were both from the Covington, Kentucky-Cincinnati, Ohio area, and moved to Chicago not long after their marriage. They shared a home with Mary’s parents, who lived in the upstairs flat while the newlyweds lived downstairs.

Edward originally found work in a local factory but eventually became a mail carrier for the Post Office. The couple had five children: Edward, Mary, Virginia, Catherine, and Barbara.

Mary, the second oldest child, was just eleven years old when her mother died. “It was a difficult time for us but somehow we managed,” Sister wrote in her life story. “Our father was a very religious man so his faith and the way he shared it with us kept us going.”

Read more about Sister Mary Catharina (PDF)

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

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