In Memoriam

We Remember

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Sister Ruth Anne Kelly (1938-2016)

I say, sláinte* to one and all! (* Irish Gaelic for "good health")

Sister Ruth Anne Kelly, known also as Sister Mary Ralph, was born June 6, 1938, in Lansing, Michigan. She was the third child and eldest daughter of the eight children born to Francis and Ruth (Burdick) Kelly. Her siblings were Howard, Francis, Jr, Robert, Mary Kathleen, Margaret Rose, Barbara and Patricia. Patricia, the youngest, was born after Sister Ruth Anne left home to attend the Prep School at St. Joseph Academy.

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Sister Ethel Detz, OP

Ethel Detz (1946-2015)

Sister Ethel Detz was born on July 19, 1946, in Detroit. She was the second oldest of six children born to Nicholas and Doris (Walkowski) Detz. She wrote the following about her childhood and family in her autobiography.

I have an older sister Fran, a younger sister Dolores and three younger brothers, Nicholas, Richard and Michael. I was in scouting for ten years before I entered. I loved the trips we took and especially enjoyed the overnight camping trips. In the summers, my sisters and I along with a few of our neighbors would put on plays in the basement. We had a great time creating these skits. Sundays were special in our house. My dad was an usher and usually ushered at the 6:30 Sunday Mass. I remember he would hurry home after mass so that my mom could take the older kids to church and he would stay home with the younger ones. My dad would cook breakfast for us and we often took a Sunday drive into “the country” which of course is now Livonia, Michigan, with houses and stores.

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Sister Mary Rita Gleason, OP

(1919-2015)

Sister Mary Rita Gleason, born August 29, 1919, in Clayburg, New York, was the third of eight children born to William and Kathryn (Moore) Gleason. She began her autobiography by correcting a misconception that she was a “Floridian.” She wrote:

To many of my acquaintances I am known as a “Floridian,” but actually I started my life as a “snowbird.” My earliest years were spent near the Canadian border in Clayburg, New York. I was the third child of William and Kathryn Gleason. In the summer of 1926 my parents, my two older brothers, Thomas William and Robert Joseph, a younger brother Francis Patrick and I moved to Florida. In Florida, before I entered the convent, my mother gave birth to three more children. We then had the “Florida crackers and the snowbirds.”