(1930-2022)

… I am daring to assume the role of representative of my people in the Dominican Republic. This is because I know you and am aware of your total dedication to our most needy people. In your constant way of bringing hope and consolation in the most difficult situations, you always transmitted hope and peace. This was your way of being, and I am certain that wherever else you went, you always left your same unique legacy.

Sister Luisa Campos, a native of the Dominican Republic, wrote these words for Sister Margaret Lane’s wake, honoring a woman whose long life of service included some fifteen years of ministry among the people of the D.R.

Julia Marie Lane was born January 22, 1930, in Detroit to Timothy and Margaret (Conway) Lane. Timothy was born in County Cork, Ireland, and came to America after fighting in Ireland’s civil war. According to Sister Margaret’s autobiography, “since he was not on the winning side, the Irish Free State” there was no future for him in his homeland.

He settled in Detroit, became a city bus driver, and met his future wife, Margaret Mary Conway – an Irish immigrant herself, from County Cork – at the Gaelic League, an Irish-American social club in Detroit. The couple would go on to have five children who lived to adulthood: Julia, who was named for her paternal grandmother; Kathleen; Lilly; Kevin; and Peggy, born right before Julia was received as a novice. Another child, a girl, died at three days old.

Read more about Sister Margaret (PDF)

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

 

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(1931-2022)

Sister Rina Cappellazzo’s autobiography begins with this proud proclamation: “I am Venetian!” It was “of prime importance,” she went on to explain, for natives of Venice to call themselves Venetian rather than Italian.

And so, it must be noted that both of Rina’s parents, Ernesto and Adele (Mazzaro) Cappellazzo, were born in Venice. Ernesto came to the U.S. twice; the first time, he and the man who would become Rina’s godfather both worked for a time in Kentucky as miners, but eventually they missed their homeland and returned to Venice. Later, the lure of good jobs in America brought Ernesto back, and he found a job as a machinist. He and Adele originally lived in a boarding house in Hamtramck, Michigan, across the street from the General Motors assembly plant there.

The couple had two children: Gino and, five years later on June 26, 1931, Rina. “My mother did not approve of the many American baby names, and because of the length of our surname, I, like my brother, was baptized with [a] short name, Rina,” she wrote.

Italian was the children’s first language. They picked up some English from playing with other children in the neighborhood, including Jeanette Jabour, who would later enter the Congregation. Rina’s autobiography tells of how she pleaded with her mother for a pair of roller skates, only to be repeatedly told no because “it is Depression time.” But one day, Jeanette invited Rina to her house and the two girls each put on one of Jeanette’s skates and took off together down the street.

Read more about Sister Rina (PDF)

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

 

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(1924-2022)

Out of the five children born to Joseph and Anna (Cebula) Rudolph, three were girls – and all three of them would become Adrian Dominican Sisters: Julia (Sister Joseph Annette), Theresa (the future Sister Jean Annette), and Dorothy (whose religious name was Sister Joan Annette).

Julia, the eldest child, was born on December 2, 1924, in Hamtramck, Michigan, followed by Arthur, Theresa, Dorothy, and George. Although the children all grew up during the Great Depression, they had happy childhoods: “Mom and Dad made them so,” Sister Julia said in her life story. Joseph worked wherever he could and was a skilled woodworker who made signs and toys to sell, and Anna “did a great job in managing the household. We were never hungry.”

She and Arthur originally attended St. Florian School, which was staffed by the Felician Sisters and where classes were all in Polish. At the end of the school year, the family moved into St. Augustine Parish in Detroit, and it was here, at St. Augustine School, that Julia and her siblings first met the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She was placed into second grade and was at a disadvantage because, although the family spoke English at home, she needed to learn to read, write, and spell in English.

With the help of her teacher, Sister Mary Donalda Fredricks, she was able to quickly catch up to her classmates and enjoyed school very much. She also loved her teacher. “I told Mom many times that I wanted to be just like Sister,” she said.

Read more about Sister Julia (PDF)

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

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(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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