(1934 - 2015)
Sister Joann Weigang was born in Detroit on June 25, 1934, the first of three children born to Joseph and Catherine (Csernai) Weigang. Both of her parents were born in Detroit; her mother was Austrian-Hungarian and her father was German. In her autobiography, Sister Joann wrote:

We were quite a family! I thank God each day for the family life I grew up in, which was different from what some children have today. Love, kindness, concern, patience, respect were nurturing qualities that were instilled in us along with our faith, moral values and principles.

When my father was a child he had rheumatic fever and a rare kidney disease which [eventually] led to the congestive heart failure that caused his death on August 25, 1944. His early death left my mother with three small children: Patricia, 8, Joseph, 3, and I was 10. Thanks to [her] we were able to continue as a family through our loss without emotional problems or scars.

Read more about Sister Joann Weigang (pdf).

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(1923 - 2015)
Virginia Marie LaTourelle, known also as Sister Agnes Ann, was born on September 24, 1922, in Detroit. She was the first of the two girls born to Harold and Angeline (Hoeykens) LaTourelle. Her parents were married in St. Catherine Church on October 18, 1921.

Thinking he was going to have a large family, her father, designed a house and had it built in 1926 in St. David Parish. In her autobiography, Sister Virginia described events that changed everything.

It was there that [my mother] Angeline became sick for a long time with Bright’s disease and had to follow a special diet that included liver. Many memorares were said by her children and family. It was about this time that America fell into the Great Depression and my sister Dorothy and I got Scarlet Fever.  

Tool and die makers were not needed and [my dad] could not find work. To earn a living he opened a store and the family lived above it. It was hard work, but we struggled together through the Depression.

By 1932 the economy improved and her father found a job and the family rented a house near his work.

Read more about Sister Virginia Marie LaTourelle (pdf).

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(1927 - 2015)
Mary Otillie Ripplinger, known as Sister William Christine, was born in Chicago on June 23, 1927. She was the first of six children born to Edwin and Clara (Wangler) Ripplinger.  Her parents were still very young when their families moved to neighboring farms in Belle Rive, Illinois. This is where her mother and father met and went to school together.  In her autobiography Mary wrote:

After their marriage at St. John Church in Dahlgren, Illinois, mom and dad moved to Chicago. Dad had gone to Chicago to find work prior to their marriage. He had worked at a coffee company, but was a Yellow Cab driver at the time of my birth.

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(1939 - 2015)

Sister Sharon Culhane, known as Sister Thomas Clare, was born in Rockford, Illinois, on December 1, 1938. Her parents were Thomas H. and Clara (Holomany) Culhane. She was one of six children in the Culhane family: three girls and three boys.

Sister Sharon graduated from Bishop Muldoon High School in 1956 and a year later entered the postulate on June 26, 1957, at the age of eighteen. Immediately after profession in December 1958, she was sent to St. Augustin School in Des Moines, Iowa, to teach elementary grades and CCD classes after school. Her next five teaching assignments would be in Illinois.

Read more about Sister Sharon Culhane (pdf).

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