In Memoriam

We Remember

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(1940-2022)

Damiana Dominguez, born on March 1, 1940, was around nine years old when her father, Jose, took his family – his wife Carmen; his daughters, Carmen and Damiana; and his son Diego – from their Seville, Spain, home to visit the Dominican Republic. Jose, the president of a company that produced and exported olives and olive oil, wanted to see his father, who lived in the Dominican Republic.

But while the family was there, Jose’s father died, and suddenly the father’s multiple businesses were Jose’s to run plus his mother needed to be looked after. And so, without ever going back to Spain, the Dominguez family became residents of the Dominican Republic.

Damiana’s earliest schooling in Seville had come from the Irish BVM Sisters, who required their students to speak only English and who once forced little Damiana to write with her right hand by tying her left arm to a small chair. But in the Dominican Republic, she was enrolled in fourth grade at the Colegio Santo Domingo, where Sister Mariana Carrigan was her teacher. On the first day of class, Damiana watched with shock and amazement as Sister Mariana wrote on the board with her left hand … and at that moment, the nine-year-old knew everything was okay.

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

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Tagged With: Carmen Joseph Dominguez, Damiana Dominguez / 2784 Views

Sister Julie Hyer, OP (Ann Warren)

(1948-2022)

Tonight we remember a woman of deep generosity with a heartfelt desire to serve those on the margins. She was a woman of faith who modeled this for family and friends, urging every person she met to challenge themselves to being a better person each day.

With this, Sister Mary Soher, Mission Prioress of the Catherine of Siena Mission Chapter, began the wake service for Sister Julie Hyer – which happened to fall, Sister Mary noted, on the fifty-fifth anniversary of Sister Julie’s reception as a novice.

In the course of those fifty-five years, Sister Julie had served the Congregation and the wider world in many ways: assistant director of medical records at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Detroit; Director of Medical Records and later Vice President of Medical Services at Samaritan Health Center, Detroit; President and CEO of Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital; Santa Cruz, California; President and Administrator of Salud Para La Gente, Watsonville, California; Administrator on the Congregation’s General Council; one of the first trustees of the Congregation’s Camilla Madden Charitable Trust; and much more.

Sister Julie’s journey through life began on June 23, 1948, in New York City. She was the third child of four born to Warren and Ann (Lehosky) Hyer, following Warren Jr. and Marianne and before Gregory.

Read more about Sister Margaret (PDF)

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

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Tagged With: Julia Marie Lane, Margaret Lane, Margaret Timothy / 1561 Views

Sister Rina Cappellazzo, OP (Jeanne Dominic)

(1931-2022)

Sister Rina Cappellazzo’s autobiography begins with this proud proclamation: “I am Venetian!” It was “of prime importance,” she went on to explain, for natives of Venice to call themselves Venetian rather than Italian.

And so, it must be noted that both of Rina’s parents, Ernesto and Adele (Mazzaro) Cappellazzo, were born in Venice. Ernesto came to the U.S. twice; the first time, he and the man who would become Rina’s godfather both worked for a time in Kentucky as miners, but eventually they missed their homeland and returned to Venice. Later, the lure of good jobs in America brought Ernesto back, and he found a job as a machinist. He and Adele originally lived in a boarding house in Hamtramck, Michigan, across the street from the General Motors assembly plant there.

The couple had two children: Gino and, five years later on June 26, 1931, Rina. “My mother did not approve of the many American baby names, and because of the length of our surname, I, like my brother, was baptized with [a] short name, Rina,” she wrote.

Italian was the children’s first language. They picked up some English from playing with other children in the neighborhood, including Jeanette Jabour, who would later enter the Congregation. Rina’s autobiography tells of how she pleaded with her mother for a pair of roller skates, only to be repeatedly told no because “it is Depression time.” But one day, Jeanette invited Rina to her house and the two girls each put on one of Jeanette’s skates and took off together down the street.