(1937-2018)

I will miss her. She was an ordinary, but extraordinary woman, who did small and big things with great love. I will cherish our friendship, and hope I can remember her example of loving kindness that meant so much to so many.

These words from former Adrian Dominican Ella Taylor were part of a remembrance she sent to be read at the wake service for Sister Nadine Sheehan, a member of her “crowd” and with whom she shared much fun over the years. 

Hilda Nadine Sheehan was born on March 10, 1937, in Rochester, Michigan, to Martin John Edward and Mary Irene (Egan) Sheehan. Edward, a welder, came from Bedford, Ontario, Canada, while Irene came from Westport, Ontario, Canada. She had been a teacher in Canada but, because her credentials were not recognized in the U.S., she became a cook at one of Rochester’s finer establishments.

Nadine was the oldest of five children, with three sisters — Laurine, Sharon, and Jacqueline — and a brother, Carl. Her given first name, Hilda, was in honor of Irene’s lone sister, but Nadine only used it for the most formal of reasons.

Read more about Sister Nadine (PDF)

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

(1927-2018)

This gentle, quiet Dominican Preacher of Adrian did not need the pulpit any more to preach the word of God. She preached it by the way she lived. She knew about the Sower and the seed. She carefully tilled her soil and taught others to do the same.

These words, spoken by Sister Maria Goretti Browne in her funeral homily for Sister Virginia O’Reilly, centered on the parable of the sower and the seed that was the Mass’s Gospel reading. It described a woman whose ministries moved from teacher to clinical psychologist to Director of Studies for the Congregation – and much more.

Sister Virginia was born in Detroit to George and Alice (Hall) O’Reilly on April 28, 1927. Both George and Alice were the descendants of Irish immigrants, and George was born in Montana while Alice was born in Quebec. Both the O’Reilly and Hall families eventually made their way to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where George and Alice met as high school classmates.

Read more about Sister Virginia (PDF)

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

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(1932-2018)

Some people come into your life and make you a better person. That was Sister Jean.

She had a gift for reading people, and discerning their strengths and talents. Then with a warm smile and a gentle rub on the back she could get you to agree to any task. That was her magic. You never said no.

These words began one of the many written messages and in-person remembrances shared at the wake service for Sister Jean Rosaria Fisch. They were written by Lisa Martone, who had been a student at St. Rose of Lima School in Miami Shores, Florida, during Sister Jean’s time there as elementary principal.

Sister Jean was born Rita Mae Fisch on May 24, 1932, in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Ervin and Helen (Umland) Fisch. She was the couple’s only child; when Rita was eighteen months old, Helen died of tuberculosis. Ervin sent Rita to live with her maternal grandparents until he remarried; his second wife, Iva, was his business partner in an appliance and furniture store in Appleton.

(1934-2018)

In all the history of St. Nicholas of Tolentine School in Chicago, there have likely not been many instances of a three-and-a-half-year-old attending kindergarten. But when little Patricia Spangler proved herself so determined to follow her older siblings to school that her brother Jim was late to class because he was the one taking her back home, putting her into kindergarten was the solution devised by the principal, Sister Leone Therese Morrin. That way, Sister Leone Therese reasoned, Jim would have no excuse for missing class every time his baby sister decided to tag along. This did not mean, however, that Pat was officially in school a year early; the next year, she was enrolled in kindergarten along with the other children her age.

Sister Pat was born on December 31, 1934, to Robert and Anna (Rezac) Spangler. She was the sixth child and the third girl born into the family – following Marianne, Bob, Bill, Jim, and Betty Jo – and the first of the Spangler children to be born in Chicago; the family had previously lived in Kansas and Oklahoma. The youngest, Thomas, whom the family called “Timmy” because his godfather nicknamed him “Tiny Tim,” was born just before Sister Pat’s third birthday.

Thomas’ fourth birthday, December 7, 1941, coincided with the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. was plunged into World War II. Bob was already in the Navy as part of the V-12 Program, through which men took college classes in order to become officers, and was at the University of Notre Dame. Marianne, who had been working as a secretary and stenographer in downtown Chicago, quit her job and joined the WAVES, where she became a secretary for an admiral at the Great Lakes Naval Base. Bill left school and joined the Navy as well, eventually serving in the South Pacific aboard the (second) aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

Read more about Sister Patricia (pdf)