(1926-2019)

In 1958, the Adrian Dominican Sisters missioned in Roy, New Mexico, had a rather unlikely prospective postulant come their way: Maria Carmen Gonzales, who at the age of thirty-two was considerably older than most who have entered the Congregation.

Maria Carmen was born on July 16, 1926, in Albert, New Mexico, to Desiderio and Vicenta (Montaño) Gonzales. When she was about six months old, however, her mother became quite ill, and so the little girl was raised by an aunt and uncle whom she called her mother and father. She did not even know until it was time to enroll in school that her aunt and uncle were not actually her parents.

She attended a one-room schoolhouse for grades one through eight and then went to Mosquero High School, from which she graduated in 1945. Her uncle died around that time, and as the oldest of nine children – eight girls and a boy – she took on the responsibility of helping support the family. She worked in a number of jobs, including a grocery store, a cleaner, a laundry, and the local post office. According to her autobiography, she actually dreamed of joining the Air Force, but “I was too short and didn’t weigh enough.”

Read more about Sister Marie Carmen (pdf)

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

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(1929-2019)

A Korea under Japanese occupation was the setting in which Myung Soon (Monica) Kim was born to Ik Ro and Soon Ock (Lawrence and Monica) Kim.

Sister Monica, the third child of four, was born on May 13, 1929, in Yungyou, located in present-day North Korea. Life during the occupation, which lasted from 1910 to 1945, was difficult; Sister Monica wrote in her autobiography that the Japanese forced Koreans to adopt Japanese surnames and, during World War II, took everything from church bells to people’s brass rice and soup bowls and silver utensils in order to make munitions.

After the war ended, freedom was short-lived as in 1948 the country was divided into North and South Korea. The Kims were very unhappy living under Communist rule, and Lawrence gave Monica permission to leave for South Korea when her cousins were ready to go. The entire family was eventually able to escape to the South and settled in Seoul, where Sister Monica enrolled in night classes at Soo-do Junior College.

Read more about Sister Monica (pdf)

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

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1933-2018

Barbara Ann (Renton) Charboneau, 85, of Cheboygan, Michigan, died peacefully at home on December 27, 2018. She was born to George and Helen Renton in Detroit on April 18, 1933. She attended St. Joseph Academy in Adrian and Visitation High School in Detroit. Barbara remembered the Academy fondly, especially Sister Marcella Gardner, OP, who taught her the adage, “Once a Dominican, always a Dominican.” Those words resonated throughout her life.

Barbara married Gerald Charboneau Sr. on April 21, 1951. Together, they raised four children. 

Barbara was a very active member of St. Mary/St. Charles Catholic Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Cheboygan, serving as a Eucharist minister, sacristan, and lector. She was also active in the Cursillo movement and a member and Past Regent of the Cheboygan Circle of Daughters of Isabella. Barbara attended Mass daily, prayed the Liturgy of the Hours, and enjoyed a silent retreat each year.

Barbara enjoyed visiting with the homebound, being with other people, and spending time with family. She became an Adrian Dominican Associate in 1990, after being mentored by Sister Patricia Janowicz, OP. She was also a good friend of Sister Lucy Ann Quinn, OP.

In the past few years, both Barbara’s husband and son died before her own health began to be of concern.  

Barbara is survived by her daughter Nancy (Charboneau) Reiner of Cheboygan, Michigan; sons Richard (Wendy) Charboneau of Essexville, Michigan, and Chris Charboneau of Madison Heights, Michigan; daughter-in-law Celeste Charboneau of Cheboygan, Michigan; grandchildren Dennis (Abby) Reiner, Rebecca (Eric) Lee, Gerald III, Dan, Amy, and Emily Charboneau, and Mandy and Matt (Liz) Charboneau; five great-granddaughters; numerous nieces and nephews; and countless treasured friends. 

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband, Gerald; her parents; brother, Donald; and son, Gerald Charboneau Jr. 

Barbara’s funeral was celebrated on December 31, 2018, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Online condolences may be made here.

(1925-2019)

Even as a little girl in her native Ireland, Nora Brady wanted to be in religious life.

But “all I could really do was to dream about it, and pray that one day my dream might come true,” she wrote in her letter to Mother Gerald seeking admittance to the Congregation. And on June 27, 1948, dream finally became reality when Sister Nora arrived in Adrian as a postulant from her adopted home city of Chicago.

Sister Nora was born on November 5, 1925, in County Caven, Ireland, the fifth of Mathias and Annie (Shierdan) Brady’s six children. Five girls (Susan, Mary Ellen, Ann, Bridget, and Nora) and a boy (Hugh) came into the family in all.

Tragedy struck early in Nora’s life when Mathias, a farmer, and Annie died exactly two months apart in 1930, before their youngest daughter had even turned five. Uncle Hugh, who lived with the family, became the children’s guardian.