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(1925-2020)
Rita was a true Dominican artist preacher. Personally, I found her to be a woman of few words but believe she found her voice in the words of our Franciscan Brother, Francis of Assisi. “Preach always. When necessary, use words.” Rita loudly and clearly proclaimed God’s Word through her art of sacred spaces. These chapels and churches are “living examples” of her pouring out and sharing the fruits of her contemplation.
All the chapels and churches she designed and built with Barbara were not just buildings but projects whose life force built and sustained communities brought together in the process. … We will never know how many folks enter a chapel or church designed by Rita and Barbara and say to themselves: “This is where I meet God.”
These words from Pat Daly, president of the Dominican Institute for the Arts, were a reflection upon the life of Sister Rita Schiltz, who with Sister Barbara Chenicek designed sacred spaces across the U.S. in their INAI Studio for many years.
Rita Celene Schiltz was born on October 6, 1925, in Chicago to Nicholas and Barbara (Droessler) Schiltz. She was the couple’s fifth child and third daughter.
Nicholas was born on a farm near Bancroft, Iowa, while Barbara was born in Kieler, Wisconsin. Her father, like Nicholas’ father a farmer, found the rocky Kieler soil difficult to till, and bought land near Bancroft – down the road from the Schiltz farm. “Dad would go to the Droessler farm to spend time with the boys, and eventually to court Mom,” Sister Rita wrote in her autobiography.
Read more about Sister Rita (pdf)
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.
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(1923-2020)
Soon after Winifred Clare Mary Lynch came into this world at Dr. Mill’s Private Hospital in Morristown, New Jersey, she already had a story to tell for the rest of her life: a grieving woman who had lost her own child came into the hospital nursery and took her.
“According to my mother, [the woman] picked out the most beautiful child!” Sister Winnie, as she was long known, said in her autobiography. “After a frantic search, the nurses found me and returned me to my dear mother.”
Winifred Lynch was born May 25, 1923, to Patrick and Agnes (Regan) Lynch, both of them Irish immigrants. Patrick was born in County Meath, while Agnes came from County Mayo. The couple immigrated to America in the early part of the 20th century and settled near siblings in Morristown. Four children came into the family: Elizabeth (known as Tootsie), Catherine, Winifred, and Peter. Winnie later learned that her mother once spoke of another child born between Catherine and Winnie, but the particulars remained a mystery.
Before Winnie started school, the Lynches moved to Chappaqua, New York, where Patrick worked for a wealthy family. Her early education was at St. Mary School, but when she was in sixth grade, she and Peter transferred to Horace Greeley School in Chappaqua. While she struggled with her experience at St. Mary, she enjoyed her time at Horace Greeley and excelled in field hockey.
“I was told that I was always a lively active child,” she said in her autobiography. But that liveliness made her mishap-prone; once while pretending to be a clown, she put pussy willows into both ears and a piece ended up stuck deep inside one ear. She also put a pitchfork through her foot and, when she was ten years old, fell with a ruler in her mouth and “removed my own tonsils.”
Read more about Sister Winifred (PDF)
(1926-2020)
I am convinced that when the Lord chooses or asks one to follow, both grace and circumstances compel one to respond to that call. Coming to Adrian would never have become a reality in my life if not for the Caller. “I have chosen you” was a beautiful invitation.
Sister Edith Kathleen Zemke wrote this paragraph in her annals one year as she reflected upon the circumstances of her life which had led her to become an Adrian Dominican Sister. Listening to that call, according to her life story, had given her a happiness she would never have imagined could be hers.
Catherine Theresa Zemke was born on October 15, 1926, in Alpena, Michigan, to Bonnie, as he was known (his full name is unclear from historical records; it may have been either Boneslaus or Bronislaus) and Edith (Foley) Zemke. Edith’s family came to the area from Newfoundland, Canada, while Bonnie and his family immigrated to the U.S. from a small village on the German-Polish border when he was four or five years old. As an adult, he worked as a conductor for the Detroit and Mackinaw Railroad.
Bonnie and Edith had three children: Mary Margaret, John (known as Jackie) ten years later, and Catherine three years after that.
Read more about Sister Edith Kathleen (pdf)
(1924-2020)
For me, teaching never became boring because each year was a new beginning and each class a special challenge. I will always consider it a real DOMINICAN MINISTRY.
Sister Mary Jo O’Hanlon wrote these words in her autobiography during the last few years of a forty-eight year teaching ministry that took her from one end of the U.S. to another as well as to the Dominican Republic.
Mary Josephine O’Hanlon was born in County Kerry, Ireland, on April 27, 1924. Her parents, Patrick and Julia (O’Sullivan) O’Hanlon, both originally of Ireland, married in America and had a son, Jimmy, but when Julia’s sister became ill and returned to Ireland, Julia accompanied her and remained there after her sister’s death because she loved her homeland and her own health was fragile. Patrick stayed in America to work but traveled as he could to Ireland. Not only Mary Jo, but her younger sister Joan, as well, were born in Ireland.
Julia died in 1929 at the age of just thirty-five, and Mary Jo’s grandparents took in both her and Jimmy while Joan was raised by an aunt. Jimmy died of an infection shortly thereafter; “my uncle carried my brother to the hospital from which he never returned and at that time I didn’t understand why he never came back to us,” Sister Mary Jo wrote in her autobiography.
Read more about Sister Mary Jo (pdf)
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