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.”

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(1932-2015)

Born on May 9, 1932, in Lansing, Michigan, Sister Betty Lou Myers was the first of three children born to Frederick and Lucille (Koehler) Myers. Both parents traced their ancestry to Germany. They were married in Bowling Green, Ohio. 

Sister Betty was educated at Resurrection and St. Mary Schools in Lansing.  Because of the fierce rivalry between these two schools, it seemed strange that she attended both schools. In her biography, she explained that one of the two religious sisters on her mother’s side of the family was a member of the Sisters of Charity from Cincinnati who staffed St. Mary School.

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(1917-2015)

Sister Evangeline Davis was born on September 23, 1917, in Detroit, one of five children born to Samuel and Edna (Mills) Davis. Her two sisters died as infants, and her younger brother died after an accident at the age of twelve. After graduating from a public high school, Evangeline attended Wayne State University in Detroit for a year. It was there she met Mildred Connelly, an English professor, who as a friend of Mother Gerald Barry. Mildred who invited her to attend a retreat at Sacred Heart Convent located near Visitation Parish. This became a pivotal experience in Sister Evangeline's life.

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(1933-2015)

Sister Maureen Driscoll was born in 1933 in Port Angeles, Washington, between the hours of midnight (July 10) and 1:00 a.m. (July 11). Her parents, John and Martha (Moore) Driscoll, had the option of choosing which date to put on her birth certificate and they chose July 10 because it was the Feast of the Seven Servite Founders. According to Sister Maureen, her father thought having seven saints on your birthday was better than only having the one listed for the next day.

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