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(1933-2026)
This evening, we pay tribute to a gentle woman with a warm, welcoming smile, with a twinkle in her eye, a woman of deep faith, a woman of vision, a scholar, an avid reader, a woman of many opinions and suggestions to help better our world and world view.
Sister Peggy Coyne, Adrian Crossroads Chapter Prioress, was speaking here of Sister Janice Scholl in her welcoming remarks for Sister Janice’s wake service. “Janice was a risk taker who embraced learning other cultures,” Sister Peggy continued. “Janice worked to transform the church and society, to seek the truth through her ministry of teaching. Most of all, Sister Janice loved her family and her Adrian Dominican Sisters, her cats, and the beauty of nature.”
Janice Elizabeth Scholl was born on September 2, 1933, in Chicago to Robert and Dorothy (Williams) Scholl. Her great-uncle was the “Dr. Scholl” of foot-care fame – “We called him ‘Uncle Doc,’” she said – and a cousin took over the business after him until it was sold.
She was the oldest of nine children, preceding Gail, Patricia, Bob, Dick, Sue, Peter, Diane and Gary. In her July 2018 “A Sister’s Story,” she referred to herself as being in “two families,” because she, Gail, and Patricia were close in age but then the next sibling, Bob, did not arrive until she was twelve years old.
The youngest children either were very young when she entered the convent, or had not even been born yet, so “some of them, they only knew me as ‘the nun,’” she said. And, she added, when she came for a home visit her younger siblings hated having “the nun” come because they had to be on their best behavior and the house had to be immaculate.
Janice was educated by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the BVM Sisters) at both St. Thomas of Canterbury School and Immaculata High School. As she neared her high school graduation in 1951, she knew she wanted to enter religious life and the BVMs were the only Sisters she knew. When she spoke with her father about her desire, however, he told her not yet, that she should get a job and date some more and they would talk about it again later.
Read more about Sister Janice (PDF)
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Services, Adrian.
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
Recording of Sister Janice's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by clicking on the three dots at the bottom right corner of the screen and choosing "Download." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Janice's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by clicking on the three dots at the bottom right corner of the screen and choosing "Download." Worship Aid (PDF)
Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.
(1934-2026)
Therese Bayus, the future Sister Mary Vianne, had not even entered the Congregation yet when, the year after graduating from high school, she found herself teaching sixty-eight third graders at St. Clement School in Center Line, Michigan. It was surely good training for her later educational ministries as a Sister.
“I shall never forget those children and dare to say that they were my favorite youngsters,” she wrote in her life story.
Therese was the oldest child of Stephen and Viola (Schutz) Bayus, born on March 25, 1934, in North Branch, Michigan. Twins Paul and Pauline (known as Polly) arrived thirteen months later.
“Mom was kept busy with the three of us,” Sister Vianne wrote. “She was always happy and my earliest recollections were that she was always singing as she went about the many tasks babies require.”
By the time Therese was school age, the family had moved to Center Line, Michigan, where Stephen worked as a tool and die maker. At some point, as evidenced by Therese’s application to enter the Congregation, Viola became an office worker.
Therese attended St. Clement School all the way through her high school years. The school was staffed by the Racine Dominican Sisters, and “I loved them dearly and was at the convent every chance I got.” In fact, after she made her first communion in second grade she often begged her mother to let her leave home and go live at the convent with the Sisters. “I couldn’t understand why that was not possible,” she wrote.
Read more about Sister Mary Vianne (PDF)
Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.
Recording of Sister Vianne'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 Vianne's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1937-2026)
When the Congregation decided in the early 1970s to send Sisters to SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, to study theology in case a pathway to ordination for women ever opened, Sister Anneliese Sinnott was one of the second contingent of Sisters selected to attend.
It was yet another chapter for Sister Anneliese in a lifetime of encountering the “God of Surprises,” a phrase she borrowed from Father Tony Kosnik, the seminary’s dean, to use throughout her autobiography.
In fact, Cecilia Anne Sinnott herself was one of those surprises. Her parents, William and Anna (Haack) Sinnott of Chicago, had lost two infants and, believing they would have no more children of their own, adopted a baby boy whom they named Ronald. Then, less than two years later, on November 20, 1937, Cecilia came into the world.
William was a native of Chicago, while Anna came from San Antonio, Texas. The couple met when Anna went by train to visit one of her sisters in Buffalo, New York, and had to pass through Chicago to get there. One of Anna’s co-workers at the San Antonio phone company asked Anna to call the co-worker’s cousin, and this cousin insisted that Anna come to visit – which is how Anna met Bill, the cousin’s son.
“It was love at first sight,” Sister Anneliese wrote, and an “almost storybook” courtship and marriage ensued. The couple were wed in San Antonio but made their home in Chicago because of Bill’s job in the office at U.S. Steel.
Read more about Sister Anneliese (PDF)
Recording of Sister Anneliese'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 Anneliese's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1932-2026)
For Mary White, the path to entering religious life in Washington State began in Minnesota and wended its way through Kansas.
Mary Frances White entered the world in the tiny farming town of Montevideo, Minnesota, on July 30, 1932. She was the third of Henry and Frances (Jahn) White’s five children, joining David and Laura in the family. Paul was born when Mary was about five years old, and a third boy, Joseph, was born in 1943 but sadly only lived to be about nine months old.
Henry was a mechanic, and even before Mary’s birth the family had moved several times because it was hard for him to find work in that difficult economic era. And so, it was no surprise that when she was six months old, they moved yet again, this time to Newton, Kansas. They moved into Henry’s mother’s home, which she had vacated to become the housekeeper for her youngest son who had been ordained to the priesthood. Since Henry only made about $25 a week, this certainly saved on housing costs for them.
A chicken coop on the property not only allowed Frances to make some money selling eggs, but was also the source of a family story:
My brother swears [he and Laura] were trying to entertain me. Whatever their motives, or how they accomplished it, I don’t know, but when my mother looked out the window she saw me in the wagon being pulled along the ridge of the chicken house roof. This may account for my inordinate fear of heights.
Thanks to a correspondence course Henry took in machinist training, in 1937 he was able to get a job as a machinist at the Cardwell Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas, and the family moved once more. Mary’s early schooling came in Wichita at Blessed Sacrament School, where “I was fortunate to be able to attend kindergarten with a marvelous Sister who sought to bring out the artistic side of her students,” she wrote.
Her memories of her earliest years in Newton had been of “pasture and hedges and cows and one elderly neighbor lady who seemed to like us and invited us over rather often.” Now, living on the outskirts of Wichita with open fields in which to roam and a rather long walk to school, “my love of solitude began.”
Read more about Sister Mary (PDF)
Recording of Sister Mary'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 Mary's Memorial Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
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