(1932-2021)

Someone once wrote that the lives we live are like a pebble thrown in a pond which causes ever widening rings and ripples. The ripples in the water can often continue on for a while and will touch everything in its path. It continues even after the stone has disappeared. So, too is this true of those we know and love; they still touch us long after they are gone.

Sister Mary Sue Kennedy wrote these words in her funeral homily for Sister Lucy Ann Quinn, who definitely did her part to touch people’s lives throughout her many years of service in everything from teaching to volunteering at a local hot air balloon festival.

Lucy Ann was born in Detroit on August 31, 1932 – entering the world “during the darkest part of the total eclipse of the sun at three o’clock in the afternoon,” she wrote in her autobiography – as the fourth child of Maurice and Florence (Knill) Quinn. Her siblings were all quite a bit older than she was; Margaret was sixteen, Maurice (known as Bud) was fourteen and John was twelve. As a result, she wrote, her sister and brothers “showered me with much affection.”

The family lived in Visitation Parish, and Lucy Ann’s experience with the Adrian Dominican Sisters began in first grade at the parish school. In addition to the strong role models the Sisters were for her, she had the example of her parents’ faith life as a guiding light. “As I grew I was very impressed with the strong faith of my mother and dad,” she wrote. “Dad was a daily communicant. They both went to confession often and each made a yearly retreat. Nightly they said the rosary together kneeling beside their bed.”

Read more about Sister Lucy Ann (PDF)

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

 

 

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(1935-2021)

Out of the thirteen children born to Vincent and Lillian (Heitkamp) Guettler of Fort Pierce, Florida, Dorothy Florence came almost in the middle – five older siblings, seven younger, including a set of twins.

Both of Dorothy’s parents were Minnesota natives; Vincent was born in Cologne, while Lillian came from the nearby town of Carver. They met at a Firemen’s Picnic in Cologne. Lillian came from a Lutheran family and, knowing her father would never permit her to marry a Catholic, moved to Florida when Vincent and his family did. She worked for a year, converted to the Catholic faith, and on November 18, 1926, the two were married. In time, in addition to Dorothy, Betty, Gerald, Paul, Patricia, Jeanie, Edward, Dolores, Bernard, Margaret, Teresa, Kathleen and Karl came into the family.

Vincent worked in the family business, the Peerless Ice Cream Co., which was co-owned by his father, himself, and two of his brothers, for some twenty years until the factory was sold and he became a citrus grower. As for Lillian, she was an excellent cook and baker, especially noted for her skill in making kuchen, the traditional German cake. She passed her household expertise on to her children, and much more besides: “My mother’s qualities of gentleness, patience, risk-taking, courage and deep faith were given to her children,” Sister Dorothy wrote in her autobiography.

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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(1929-2021)

Our sister Barbara Mary waited and waited for God to come. And, not surprisingly, God came … right at the beginning of the Advent season.

So began the funeral homily for Sister Barbara Mary Saynay, preached by Sister Mary Ann Ennis. Sister Barbara Mary died on December 4, 2021, just over three years after the death of her sister Mary, who was also in the Congregation.

Christine, as Sister Barbara Mary was baptized, was born on April 7, 1929, in Detroit to Joseph and Lucille (Rybczynski) Saynay. Joseph’s surname was originally Sajnaj, the Polish spelling, but he changed it in around 1937 and the rest of the family followed suit.

Besides Christine and Mary, nine other children were born to Joseph and Lucille: Charlotte, Mary’s twin, who died shortly after birth; Margaret; Barbara; Lillian; Bernadine; Constance; Rosalie; Joseph; and Lawrence. Rosalie entered the Congregation as well, becoming Sister Lawrence Joseph, but left in 1975.

Christine, whose nickname was Kris, and Mary were next to each other in birth order – Mary was the oldest child, and Kris followed two years later – and the two shared a bed as children. After Sister Mary died, Sister Maria Goretti Browne, then Vicaress for the Adrian Dominican Vicariate, told the following story at Sister Mary’s wake service:

… She and her sister, Kris, would get into their double bed at night, and of course they argued or squabbled. If you ever slept in a double bed with your sister and didn’t squabble, there is something wrong with you. You know, “You are on my side. You’ve got all the covers.” I know from experience. One Christmas, Kris received a powder glove as a present. Each time Mary rolled over on her side of the bed, the powder was shaken out of the glove on her. Dad heard them squabbling and called up the stairway a couple of times. Finally, he had had it. He came up and put the ironing board between them. Kris said she laughed herself to sleep that night and she didn’t remember what Mary did.

Read more about Sister Barbara Mary (PDF)

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

 

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(1929-2021)

In the early part of the 20th Century, Detroit’s east side was not nearly as urban as it would soon come to be, and farmland near Harper Avenue became home to the Sinnamon family: Harry and Irma (DeMaire) Sinnamon and their five children.

Harry was born in Portadown, Ireland, and came to Connecticut at age 21, while Irma was born in Bernem, Belgium, and arrived in Detroit when she was three years old with her mother and siblings, to join her father who was already there. After Harry completed military service in World War I he ended up in Detroit, and he and Irma met on Irma’s parents’ farm on Harper Avenue. Irma’s father later bought some nearby farmland and built a house there, on Elmdale Street, for the young couple when they married.

Theresa, born on September 5, 1929, was the fourth of five children and the only girl. Her brothers were Harry, Lawrence, James and Edward. The children all attended St. David School, where they were taught by Sisters of St. Joseph from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The year Theresa finished eighth grade, her oldest brother, Harry, died in his sleep of a heart issue at age nineteen. Not surprisingly, his death hit the family hard, especially Irma. “My mother found his death very difficult to accept, and one that she never really got over,” Sister Theresa wrote in her autobiography.

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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