(1932-2019)

“My fourth grade held a very important incident – I became a full-fledged Dominican nun!”

This line begins a section bearing the title “Today I Am a Dominican!” in the autobiography Sister Joan Unger wrote at age sixteen. A reader puzzled by the assertion that Joan became a Dominican sister in fourth grade – and by the photos included showing the nine-year-old in a white habit – would see the mystery solved in just a few sentences; she went on to explain that she had played a nun in a school play. Still, however, one line from the teenaged Joan’s story about that experience would turn out to be prophetic: “You know, being a nun was fun. I think I’ll try it again sometime!”

Joan Adele Unger was born June 4, 1932, in Seattle, Washington, to Nathan and Ann (Sexton) Unger. She was the youngest of six children: two boys (James and Richard) and three girls (Natalie, Dorothy, and Rosemary) preceded her in the family.

(1929-2019)

Elmhurst, Illinois, was the birthplace of Lila Watt, the only daughter of Melvin and Charlotte (Daley) Watt, and the fact of where she was born led to an incident which was passed down as part of family lore.

Melvin and Charlotte were both of Scottish and Irish descent – with some German and Dutch on Melvin’s side as well – with Melvin mostly Scottish and Charlotte mostly Irish (and very proud of that fact). And as the story goes, one evening when Lila was very young she began crying at the dinner table and when her parents asked what was wrong, her reply was that she had heard them say that foreigners would be sent out of the country. “I figured that applied to me because I was born in the country of Elmhurst, Illinois, not Chicago,” she said in her life story.

Very little is known about Sister Lila’s parents other than their heritage, but according to Sister Lila, the Watt family, which also included her older brother Melvin and her two younger brothers Harry and Neil, was a happy one. Her father, a convert to Catholicism whom Sister Lila remembered kneeling every night to recite the Rosary, liked to tell jokes, was never angry, and never spoke negatively of anyone, while Charlotte was a wonderful mother who enjoying being at home to care for the family.

(1935-2019)

A 485-acre farm near Harbor Beach, in Huron County, Michigan (the county at the very tip of Michigan’s “Thumb”), was home for the Roggenbuck family: Henry and Magdalene (Holdwick) and their large family, of whom Margaret Ann was the sixth child and the second daughter.

The Roggenbucks had deep roots in Huron County; Henry’s parents arrived there from Germany in the 1800s and settled on a farm, while Magdalene’s parents were also area farmers. The two met as children in catechism class at Harbor Beach’s St. Anthony Church, the same church where they were married in 1927.

Both Henry and Magdalene left the area as young adults, Henry to attend Detroit Business University and Magdalene to study education at what was then known as Ferris Institute in Big Rapids, Michigan. But Henry loved the land too much to stay away and returned to Harbor Beach to work the family farm, and Magdalene came back to the area to spend six years as a country-school teacher before the two married.

In one of her St. Catherine letters, Sister Margaret Ann remembered her father as a man with a gentle spirit and a love for life, someone who saw goodness in everyone. “He perceived and experienced life as gift and he especially cherished each of his children as a special gift,” she wrote.

(1932-2019)

From the Gospel of Matthew we listened to the words, “When Jesus saw the crowds he went up on the mountainside and he sat down. His disciples gathered around him and he began to teach them.” The Beatitudes are not only a code of living. They are about Jesus. The teaching of the Beatitudes is to become like Jesus – to be that compassionate, empathetic, joy-filled, in solidarity with the vulnerable and to be selfless.

From the Gospel of Elisa’s life, many experienced Jesus.

These words began Sister Patricia Harvat’s homily at the funeral Mass for Sister Elisa Joan Doherty, a woman who spent forty-five years in ministry to the people of Puerto Rico, much of it living and working directly among the poor.

Joan Marjorie Doherty, who in 1971 legally added Elisa to her name, was born on October 19, 1932, in Detroit to Frank and Melita (Dederich) Doherty. Frank was a model-building foreman at General Motors while Melita was in charge of the home and the couple’s four children, of whom Elisa was the youngest daughter, preceded by Eleanor and Eileen. Later, Richard came into the family.

Joan’s elementary-school years were spent at St. Catherine School and then Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Detroit, where the IHM Sisters from Monroe were her teachers. Her musical talents began being nurtured at a very early age; she began taking piano lessons and later learned the organ. Her father bought a pump organ so she could practice at home and not have to stay after school to practice in the church. Within six months, she was playing the organ for the daily 6:30 a.m. Mass, with her sister Eileen singing.