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(1923-2024)
Sister Miriam Joseph Lekan, baptized Josephine Bernadette Lekan, died on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian. She was 101 years of age and in the 81st year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sister was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Joseph and Frances (Perko) Lekan. She graduated from Holy Name High School in Cleveland and received a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian and a master’s degree in Latin from DePaul University in Chicago. Sister Miriam Joseph was also a licensed practical nurse, certified by the State of Ohio, and a pharmacologist, also certified in Ohio.
Sister Miriam Joseph spent more than 37 years ministering in elementary and secondary education in Rockford and Oak Park, Illinois; Utica, Dearborn, and Grand Ledge, Michigan; Hollywood, Florida; and Cleveland, Shaker Heights, and Medina, Ohio. This includes six years as principal at St. Michael School in Grand Ledge. Sister also ministered as a licensed practical nurse for more than seven years at St. John Hospital and for 10 years at St. Augustine Manor, both in Cleveland.
Sister Miriam Joseph became a resident of the Dominican Life Center in Adrian in 2016. She is preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Cyril, Matt, John, Frank, Anthony, Deacon Louis Lekan, and Rev. Joseph Lekan, SM; sisters, Frances Mlincek, Marie Viskocil, Patricia (Angela) Sammons, and Rosalie (Sally) Lekan, and by a cousin, Sister Mary Ann Zakrajsek, and a third cousin, Sister Rose Pauline Lekan, both Adrian Dominican Sisters. She is survived by loving family members and her Adrian Dominican Sisters.
Visitation will be held from 6:30 to 7:00 pm on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the gathering space of St. Catherine Chapel. The Vigil Prayer will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in St. Catherine Chapel. A Funeral Mass will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 4, 2024. Prayers of Committal will be held in the Congregation Cemetery.
Those who are not attending services in person are welcome to participate via live stream at https://adriandominicans.org/Live-Stream.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221.
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
Recording of Sister Miriam Joseph's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Miriam Joseph's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
LEFT: Eighth-grade graduation from St. Lawrence School, Cleveland, June 1937. MIDDLE LEFT: Sister Miriam Joseph, then a novice, with her parents, 1943. MIDDLE RIGHT: Sister Miriam Joseph with students at Bishop Quarter Military Academy, where she ministered from 1948 to 1958. RIGHT: Sister Miriam Joseph Lekan at her graduation ceremony from Lakewood School of Practical Nursing, August 1982.
MIDDLE: Sister Miriam Joseph plays Scrabble with a group of her Latin students at St. Alphonsus, Dearborn, Michigan, 1959-1960. RIGHT: Sister Miriam Joseph Lekan renews her vows to Sister Marcine Klemm, Chapter Prioress, during her Golden Jubilee celebration in St. Lawrence Chapel, 1992.
LEFT: Members of the 1969 Silver Jubilee Class are: back row, from left, Sisters Agnes Regis Brazell, Christopher Noonan, Joan Patricia O’Reilly, Mary Willard Reagan, and Kevin Maureen Hussey; third row, from left, Sisters Ann Valerie LaKoske, Marie Virginia Snell, Marie Madonna Oliver, Joseph Loretta Lederer, and Mary Arnold Benedetto; second row, from left, Sisters Anne Regina Mullen, Brigetta McDonough (Postulant Mistress), Ann Bernard Goeddeke, Gilmary Foley, Ann de Lourdes Plourde, and Mary Laverne Feeney; and front row, from left, Sisters Miriam Joseph Lekan, Cecilia Marie Brown, Laurence Edward Ferguson (Prioress), Rose Augustine Kiefer, and Patricia Ellen Secor. RIGHT: From left, Sisters Ann Valerie LaKoske, Cecilia Marie Brown, and Miriam Joseph Lekan.
LEFT: Adrian Dominican Sisters from Cleveland were, from left, Sisters Anne Marie Snyder, Rita Anne Moceri, Mary Ann Zakrajsek, Mary Ann Dardy, Miriam Joseph Lekan, and Mary Hrovat. RIGHT: Sister Miriam Joseph Lekan celebrates her 100th birthday with the community in April 2023. Sister Judy Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress, reads a tribute to her.
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(1930-2024)
When she retired from St. Peter the Apostle School in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1995, the school declared May 17 of that year as “Sister Shirley Day.” After all, considering that she taught there for twenty-three years, she had certainly made her mark on the school, its staff, and its students.
In the tributes published in the school newsletter that week, the staff’s remembrances of her included these:
“Sister Shirley is a teacher who stops at nothing when it comes to motivating her students. She’s even been known to dance on the table for her fourth grade students.”
“Sister Shirley exemplifies what it means to be a fair but firm teacher. As her former student and now colleague, I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for her.”
“Sister Shirley has been an exemplary role model, as well as a dedicated religious woman to the teaching profession and to the hundreds of students she has taught.”
Read more about Sister Shirley (PDF)
Recording of Sister Shirley's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Shirley's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1941-2024)
On behalf of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, its faculty, students, and alumni, I would like to offer a few words of gratitude for the gift that Sister Sarah was to our school.
During the years that Sarah taught here, her classes were the most popular classes on our campus, deservedly so. She was an exceptional teacher, not only because she was a gifted pedagogue; but – and especially – because the content she taught was something her students carried away from the classroom into their ministry. When we ask recent alumni which professor most influenced them in the ministry, many will say, Sarah Sharkey.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI, the Oblate School of Theology’s president emeritus, began his remembrance of Sister Sarah Sharkey, read at her wake service, with the above words about the Adrian Dominican Sister who had spent almost twenty years on the school’s faculty.
Sarah Ann Sharkey was born on January 12, 1941, in Abilene, Texas. She was the only child of Paul and Marceline (Braden) Sharkey. Paul was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, while Marceline was a native of Columbus, Texas.
Read more about Sister Sarah (PDF)
Recording of Sister Sarah's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Sarah's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1935-2024)
Associate Carolyn Irene Jeziolkowski of Adrian died on August 23, 2024, at the age of 88.
Carolyn was born in Alpena, Michigan, on December 19, 1935. She was the fourth of five girls born to Sigmund and Bernice (Lewandowski) Jeziolkowski, following Jean Marie, Mary, and Genevieve and preceding Louise. Mary died at just three days old. Genevieve entered the Congregation in 1950. Jean Marie became a Felician Sister after her graduation from Felician Academy in Detroit and later, in 1973, transferred into the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sigmund originally worked as a firefighter at the Alpena County Airport. When that fire station was closed and the county road commission took over the airport, his knowledge of the facility’s water and sewer systems led him to immediately be hired as a road commission employee. He held that job for the rest of his life.
Carolyn’s earliest education came at St. Mary School in Alpena. She first became acquainted with the Congregation as a freshman at St. Bernard High School before completing her education at Catholic Central High School in Alpena in 1953.
Over the ensuing years she worked for several phone companies, starting out as a telephone operator and over time serving as a work leader, instructor, assistant chief operator, chief operator, service observer and repair-department supervisor. Her early career was spent in Ann Arbor and then in Minneapolis.
When her father died in 1965, Carolyn returned to Alpena to be with her mother and got a job with the telephone company there. The company was beginning the process of putting in a dial-telephone system, but until they did, she and the other operators had to connect all calls manually by asking “What number please?” and completing the connection.
Once the new system was installed, Carolyn was offered a management position as chief operator of the office in Three Rivers, Michigan. Not wanting to leave her mother living alone in Alpena, she asked Bernice if she would consider moving to Three Rivers with her. The pair sold their home, made the move, and lived together in Three Rivers for the next 15 years until Bernice died in 1980.
Carolyn eventually retired and decided that she would spend her winters in California with Louise and Louise’s husband, Jerry. Jerry owned a small plumbing-parts business, and for about a year and a half Carolyn worked for him part-time when she was in California. Then, she retired for good, continuing to split her time between California and Adrian.
With her two sisters in the Congregation as her inspiration, Carolyn became an Associate in 2002 because she wished to develop her spirituality and be active in Congregational projects.
When she was in Adrian, she served the Congregation faithfully as a sacristan and Eucharistic minister; served for many years on the Jubilee Committee; and assisted Sister Genevieve, who coordinated the transportation department, with Sisters’ transportation needs. She was also an active member of her Mission Group and participated in Associate and Congregational activities for as long as she was able.
Being an Associate was deeply important to Carolyn. When she renewed her Agreement of Association in 2004, she wrote:
My association with the Adrian Dominican Sisters has been enriched in more ways than I will ever be able to fully express. The feeling of God’s presence within me as I go about my daily tasks, with family and friends, has made me feel more alive than I have ever felt in a long time. I pray daily that the true virtues of St. Dominic and Catherine can be seen in me in all that I do, as I see it in those that I meet each and every day.
Carolyn never married. At the time of her death, she was survived by Sister Genevieve and by nieces and nephews. Her ashes were interred in the Congregational cemetery next to Sister Jean Marie.
Recording of Carolyn's Memorial Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance.
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