In Memoriam

We Remember

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(1936-2021)

When Sister Mary Irene Walker and her longtime friend Sister Rosaire McAuliffe moved to the Dominican Life Center, one of the earliest campus projects Sister Mary Irene undertook was to plant the dahlia tubers she had brought with her.

Her love for the bright flowers which came to be so identified with her dated back many years to the time she went to the Washington State Fair. There, in the horticulture building, she was astounded at the rows upon rows of them on display there. Having never seen dahlias before, she had to ask what they were.

“That was it. I was hooked that very moment,” she said in her January 2016 “A Sister’s Story” video. And so, from that time on, every time she left one home to move to another, she brought dahlia tubers with her to every new residence including her last one, the Dominican Life Center.

Sister Mary Irene was born Janet Murray Walker on October 30, 1936, in Seattle to Glen and Irene (Spanbauer) Walker. Glen was a Washington State native, while Irene grew up in Schenectady, New York. The two met in Schenectady, which was the home of General Electric, due to a happy coincidence: Glen, an electrical engineer, would come to town for meetings during which the local college that Irene attended would hold dances for the students and the young engineers – and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Read more about Sister Mary Irene (pdf)

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

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Tagged With: Janet Murray Walker, Mary Irene Walker / 2148 Views

Sister Therese DeCanio, OP (Thomas Frances)

(1930-2021)

On April 10, 1930, a young Chicago couple, Anthony and Frances (Liana) DeCanio, welcomed their first-born child, Therese Genevieve, into the world.

At the time, the little family lived on the second floor of an apartment building owned by three unmarried Irish sisters. These early days of the Depression were difficult, for Anthony – whose occupation is listed as “printer” in later Congregational records – was unemployed at the time of Therese’s birth. But the family’s landladies told him to not worry about the rent until he got a job. “My mother and father often spoke of their kindness,” Sister Therese wrote in her autobiography. “… They were a great gift in my young life as they spent much time reading to me, making pancakes for my breakfast and simply loving me.”

In the years following Therese’s birth, two more children were born, Joseph in 1933 and Loretta in 1938. Therese’s early school years were spent in public school, including Fort Dearborn School when the family moved into a home in St. Kilian Parish the summer before she entered fifth grade.

That move proved pivotal, for she attended CCD classes at St. Kilian. It was her introduction to the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and she went on to attend St. Kilian School for sixth grade and then Aquinas Dominican High School. Her parents preferred that she attend high school closer to home, but to her the 45-minute trip to Aquinas was well worth it because she was drawn to the Sisters’ joyful and caring presence.

Read more about Sister Therese (pdf)

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

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Tagged With: Therese DeCanio, Thomas Frances / 3034 Views

Sister Sharon Beckmann, OP (Therese Michelle)

(1940-2021)

“God brings you back whether you’re ready to go back or not, and really it was a gift to me.”

These words from Sister Sharon Beckmann in her April 2017 “A Sister’s Story” video referred to her decision in 1977 to re-enter the Congregation after seven years away, a decision which came after human, as well as divine, intervention.

Sharon Mae Beckmann was born on March 25, 1940, in St. Joseph, Michigan, to Joseph and Marie (Schramm) Beckmann. She was the Beckmanns’ second child, after Jim, and the rest of the siblings followed considerably later: Marcia was born when Sharon was nine, Joe two years later, Therese three years after that, Michael when Sharon was eighteen, and finally Kathy, when Sharon was twenty-one and had already been in the Congregation for several years.

Therese (called Terri) told this story in a remembrance sent in for Sister Sharon’s wake service:

I remember our mom telling us that Sharon, and our brother Jim, were both born at home, and the doctor took down the information for the birth record at that time. It was many years later, when our mom worked for the county clerk and had requested copies of all of our birth certificates [that] Mom was quite surprised to find that Sharon’s birth certificate listed her name as “Cherry Mae” instead of Sharon Mae. Perhaps the doctor just heard the name wrong, and that’s how the error was made. Well, Sharon didn’t think it was funny at all, but I thought that it was hilarious! And over the years, I reminded Sharon from time to time, and shared the story with others, about her original birth name, Cherry Mae! I can just imagine Sharon shaking her head and rolling her eyes now, as we’re sharing this story again, today. Love you, sister Cherry – er, Sharon!