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(1929-2023)
On June 24, 2023, Sister Marie Geraldine Brownell attended the Jubilee Mass to celebrate her 75th anniversary as an Adrian Dominican Sister, delighted in sharing the festive dinner afterward with several of her Sister-friends, and then retired to her room … where, early in the morning of June 25, she put the exclamation point on her Jubilee celebration by going home to her God. She was ninety-three years old. By the time Jubilee 2023 arrived, Sister Geraldine’s health had declined to the point where she had been confined to her room at Maria, only venturing out for meals in the 2 South solarium. “But evidently, she was storing up her energy,” said Sister Judy Friedel, Holy Rosary Mission Chapter Prioress, at Sister Geraldine’s wake service. However she was able to do it – and with much help from the nurses, aides, and chaplains – Sister Geraldine was able to participate in that great celebration of her many years in the Congregation only hours before her passing. Barbara Jane Brownell, the oldest child of Peter and Geraldine (Schlaff) Brownell, was born in Detroit on October 15, 1929, only days before the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. As she wrote in her autobiography:
I grew up without realizing there was a depression since it was never discussed in my presence. I do remember how glad adults in my family were when Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, but I didn’t know why. I knew later that times were hard, but it seemed they were hard for everyone. Besides, I had nothing to which to compare them.
Read more about Sister Marie (PDF).
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
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(1942-2023)
The cover of the worship aid for Sister Judy Bisignano’s Memorial Mass shows a picture Sister Judy took of a village in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador. Her first visit to the Achuar people of that region in 2009 changed her life and set her spirituality on a whole new path.
Judith Ann Bisignano was born May 3, 1942, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Alphonse and Catherine (Dwyer) Bisignano. She was the fourth of five children, the others being Joe, Jim, Mary Kay, and John.
Alphonse, also known as “Babe,” was the owner of Babe’s Restaurant, a Des Moines fixture for half a century. He was a boxer and wrestler before becoming a restauranteur. Catherine, as Irish by descent as Alphonse was Italian and as quiet as he was gregarious, was an avid reader who used books, newspapers, and magazines to pursue a lifelong quest for education.
Judy met the Adrian Dominican Sisters during elementary school when she attended St. Augustin School. She spent a great deal of time at the convent, finding the Sisters welcoming and kind, and although her high school education came with the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the BVM Sisters) at St. Joseph Academy in Des Moines, she decided she wanted to be an Adrian Dominican Sister. Her sister, Mary Kay, did join the BVMs, but died at the age of just twenty-three of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Read more about Sister Judith (PDF).
(1930-2023)
If it were not for missing his ship, Patrick Ahern might well have perished in the North Atlantic on his way to America.
In April 1912, Patrick, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, was supposed to be on the RMS Titanic, but he missed the sailing and instead got on the RMS Mauretania, which arrived in Queenstown, Ireland, a few days behind the Titanic.
Once in the United States, he traveled to Chicago to live with a cousin and got a job at the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. A few years later, he met Jane Condon, a Chicago native who worked as a newspaper proofreader, and the two married in 1921. Over time, eight Ahern children – four boys and four girls – entered the world; besides Catherine, there were Marie, John, Patrick, Jane, Eugene, Gerald, and Leona.
Catherine Lorraine, the fifth of the children, was born on March 27, 1930, right after the biggest snowstorm in Chicago history. More than nineteen inches fell in the two days before her birth, with drifts leaving snow as “high as the back fence,” she wrote in her autobiography.
“Once I was born and the crying began, my four-year-old brother said to my dad, ‘Put her on the floor and let her crawl.’ That set the stage for great competition for a lifetime,” her autobiography continued.
Read more about Sister Catherine (PDF).
When sisters speak of Eileen, they speak of her kindness and how nice she was to live with. We have heard how kind she was to the children she taught, even when she was principal and had to discipline the children. Now, seventy-five-plus years later, her life is changed, not ended. Her body is transformed into that glorious body promised by Jesus, and she lives on in that place of eternal happiness and peace.
Sister Maria Goretti Browne was referring here to Sister Eileen Meyers, for whom she was preaching the homily at the memorial Mass after Sister Eileen’s death.
Eileen Mary Meyers was the second oldest and the first girl of ten children – the others being Ed, Don, Bernie, Ken, Marie, Marilyn, Dorothy, and Loretta, and a boy who died in infancy – born to Herbert and Mabel (Distelrath) Meyers. She arrived in the world on November 26, 1930, at the family’s home in St. Clair, Michigan.
Herbert was a farmer until he and Mabel married, at which point he went to work for the Diamond Crystal Salt Company in St. Clair. Eileen began her schooling at St. Mary School, where she was taught by Adrian Dominican Sisters, but the family soon moved to one of two farms owned by Mabel’s father, and Herbert took up farming again.
Several years in two country schools followed, with Eileen taking religious education classes from the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Somewhere along the way, she felt called to religious life.
Read more about Sister Eileen (PDF).
Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance.
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