(1928-2022)

In 1928, Mother’s Day fell on May 13, and the holiday took on a special significance that year when Mary Eileen Zarek, the future Sister Cyrilla, came into the world as the second child, and first daughter, of Michael and Cyrilla (Connor) Zarek.

The Zareks lived on Chicago’s South Side with Cyrilla’s parents, and remained in the family home even after both the Connors died while Mary Eileen was still very young. All the adults were very active in St. Ailbe Parish, and all three of the Zarek children – Patrick,  Mary Eileen, and Cyrilla Frances, who was born seven years after Mary Eileen – attended  the parish school.

The school was staffed at that time by the Nashville Dominicans, and Mary Eileen quickly came to love them, as did her mother, who often drove the Sisters places and frequently allowed Mary Eileen to ride along. Although Mary Eileen went on to be educated by the Franciscan Sisters of Joliet at SS. Peter and Paul High School, and greatly enjoyed her teachers there, when she felt called to religious life it was to the Nashville Dominicans.

Read more about Sister Cyrilla (PDF)

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

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(1930-2022)

“… [A] gentle woman who loved children and her ministry of teaching both children and adults.” This was how Sister Peggy Coyne, Adrian Crossroads Chapter Prioress, described Sister Theresa Nightingale at Sister Theresa’s wake service.

The oldest child of Lawrence and Christina Nightingale entered the world on November 19, 1930, in West Terre Haute, Indiana, and was baptized Theresa Mae. Seven more children would be born to the couple over time: five brothers (Joseph, William, Gerald, Virgil, and Richard) and two sisters (Marjorie and Florence).

Lawrence was the fourth oldest of fourteen children, and when he was just nine years old, he quit school in order to work and help support the family. He worked in the coal mine located at the Sisters of Providence motherhouse in Terre Haute. He and Christina met as teenagers and married when he was twenty and Christina was nineteen. According to Sister Theresa’s biography, Lawrence’s family was the only Catholic one in West Terre Haute and all the other families belonged to the Baptist church – which was pastored by Christina’s father.

Lawrence soon moved to Detroit to find a better-paying job and went to work at the Hudson Motor Car assembly plant, sending money home to Christina, who remained in Indiana with her parents. Not long after Theresa’s birth, mom and baby joined Lawrence in Detroit. The family lived in Guardian Angels Parish, and it was there that Theresa began school in 1935.

Read more about Sister Theresa (PDF)

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

 

 

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(1939-2022)

Lori Schweyer was born in Detroit on November 11, 1939, to Ronald and Bernadine (Hyde) Schweyer. She was educated in Catholic schools along with her siblings, Marvin, Thomas, Ronald and Janet. In 1958, following high school she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in Nazareth, Michigan, taking the religious name of Sister Janet. 

Feeling called to the vocation of wife and mother, Lori reluctantly left the congregation and finished her bachelor’s degree in education from University of Detroit and eventually her master’s degree in education administration from the University of Toledo. 

Lori married Thomas Schweyer in 1964 in Ferndale, Michigan. They had five children: Mark, Matthew, Marcy, Edward, and Amy. 

Lori worked her entire career in Catholic Education as a teacher and principal. She loved being in a school all day and in 2001 retired from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Toledo.

Lori joined Associate Life in 1989, mentored by Mary Ellen Youngblood, OP, and Carol Johannes, OP. Through the many changes in Associate Life over the years, she remained a faithful Associate until the time of her retirement, when she and Tom spent much more time in Florida.

It is very inspiring to learn about Lori’s spirit of adventure which included skydiving for her 60th birthday, horseback riding, cliff jumping in her 70s, and bear hunting in her 80s. She was a generous, loving woman who easily made friends and explored her interests in gardening, cooking, back-packing and hunting. The greatest joy of Lori’s life was family time. She regularly visited her children and grandchildren and really enjoyed her life.

Lori had a solid spiritual life. She submitted her Annals, which reflected her deep commitment to the Dominican Charism. She set goals for herself on downsizing, outreach to the poor, and working against racism.

Lori died on April 17, 2022, in her home in Onaway, Michigan. She is survived by her husband, her children, 12 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. May she rest in peace.

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(1929-2022)

Of the six girls born to John and Agnes (Rose) Klemm of Des Moines, Iowa, three went on to become Adrian Dominican Sisters: Charlotte, who became Sister Jeannine; Helen, who became Sister Jean Agnes; and Jeannine, known in religion as Sister Marcine.

Born May 29, 1929, Jeannine Therese Klemm was the youngest of twelve Klemm children in all. The oldest were twins Agnes and Mary; then came another set of twins, John and Joseph, who died two months apart as infants; and then Francis, Cecilia, Charlotte, Helen, Jimmie, Dickie, Johnny, and Jeannine.

All ten of the surviving children attended St. Augustin School, where they were educated by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. “Many are the tales that the Sisters can tell about the escapades with the Klemm children,” Sister Marcine wrote in one of her St. Catherine  letters.
    
Charlotte and Helen both left home to join the Congregation when Jeannine was in first grade, and she spent most of her time with the three brothers closest in age to her. “I walked back and forth to school with them, played with them, climbed trees, made airplanes, made orange crate derby cars and everything else that boys do,” she wrote. “Football, baseball, ice-skating, and snowballing were the seasonal activities that we indulged in.”

Read more about Sister Marcine (PDF)

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

 

 

 

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