In Memoriam

We Remember

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(1927-2022)

After three sons were born to Eugene and Jane (Monckton) Quirk, the little girl who came into the world on January 21, 1927, in Harvey, Illinois, and was baptized Jean Ellen was certainly warmly welcomed.

“With three older brothers, my life was wonderful!” Sister Jane (as she later was known) wrote in her life story. “This is not to say that the four of us did not have a few altercations but I always knew that love was the law of the household.”

Jean, the future Sister Jane Martin, joined her brothers Francis, Robert, and George in a family home that also included a grandmother and two aunts. Her father was a mechanic, while her mother was trained as a teacher but was a homemaker by choice.

Although her childhood took place during the Great Depression, and the family had to be very careful with money and food, no one ever went hungry because Sister Jane’s mother and grandmother were excellent cooks. Her grandmother, who worked for a local haberdasher, was an expert seamstress, and the aunts both worked as office professionals. One of the aunts, Nell, worked for the president of a local auto parts manufacturer that made parts for GM, and was picked up for work every day by a chauffeur-driven car. “I thought they could take me to school, too, but once out the front door Aunt Nell didn’t even know me!” Sister Jane wrote.

Read more about Sister Jane (PDF)

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

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Tagged With: Jane Quirk, Jean Ellen Quirk / 2502 Views

Sister Carmen Joseph Dominguez, OP

(1940-2022)

Damiana Dominguez, born on March 1, 1940, was around nine years old when her father, Jose, took his family – his wife Carmen; his daughters, Carmen and Damiana; and his son Diego – from their Seville, Spain, home to visit the Dominican Republic. Jose, the president of a company that produced and exported olives and olive oil, wanted to see his father, who lived in the Dominican Republic.

But while the family was there, Jose’s father died, and suddenly the father’s multiple businesses were Jose’s to run plus his mother needed to be looked after. And so, without ever going back to Spain, the Dominguez family became residents of the Dominican Republic.

Damiana’s earliest schooling in Seville had come from the Irish BVM Sisters, who required their students to speak only English and who once forced little Damiana to write with her right hand by tying her left arm to a small chair. But in the Dominican Republic, she was enrolled in fourth grade at the Colegio Santo Domingo, where Sister Mariana Carrigan was her teacher. On the first day of class, Damiana watched with shock and amazement as Sister Mariana wrote on the board with her left hand … and at that moment, the nine-year-old knew everything was okay.

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

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Tagged With: Carmen Joseph Dominguez, Damiana Dominguez / 3171 Views

Sister Julie Hyer, OP (Ann Warren)

(1948-2022)

Tonight we remember a woman of deep generosity with a heartfelt desire to serve those on the margins. She was a woman of faith who modeled this for family and friends, urging every person she met to challenge themselves to being a better person each day.

With this, Sister Mary Soher, Mission Prioress of the Catherine of Siena Mission Chapter, began the wake service for Sister Julie Hyer – which happened to fall, Sister Mary noted, on the fifty-fifth anniversary of Sister Julie’s reception as a novice.

In the course of those fifty-five years, Sister Julie had served the Congregation and the wider world in many ways: assistant director of medical records at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Detroit; Director of Medical Records and later Vice President of Medical Services at Samaritan Health Center, Detroit; President and CEO of Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital; Santa Cruz, California; President and Administrator of Salud Para La Gente, Watsonville, California; Administrator on the Congregation’s General Council; one of the first trustees of the Congregation’s Camilla Madden Charitable Trust; and much more.

Sister Julie’s journey through life began on June 23, 1948, in New York City. She was the third child of four born to Warren and Ann (Lehosky) Hyer, following Warren Jr. and Marianne and before Gregory.