(1930-2023)

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). 

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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(1931-2023)

Jeanette Jabour’s family history was always a source of great pride to her. Her parents, Kalil and Anesa (Michael) Jabour, were born in Beirut, which today is in Lebanon but at the time was part of Syria. The couple met and married there.
 
Around the time their first child, a boy, was born (he died about a year and a half later), Kalil and several of his brothers decided to flee their homeland because there was a war going on between Syrian and Lebanese factions and the Syrians were conscripting Lebanese men to fight on their side. It was deemed safe to leave women and children behind because the Muslim Syrians would not harm them due to their religious beliefs, so the men escaped in a small boat across the Mediterranean to France.
 
A long and winding journey then took them through Africa, South and Central America, and Connecticut, and finally, they settled in Mishawaka, Indiana. A year after their escape, the situation back home had stabilized enough that Kalil and the other married men were able to return to Beirut to bring their families to America. A second Jabour son was born in Mishawaka, and then the family moved to Detroit, where seven more children were born, including Jeanette, the youngest. The son born in Indiana died at about 18 months of age, leaving Joe, Nick, Hank, Sam, Nell, Sabina, and Jeanette to grow up together.
 
Jeanette was the only one of all the Jabour children to be born in a hospital. Kalil had found a job at the Ford Motor Company when the family first came to Detroit, but with the Great Depression raging, he had been laid off, and Henry Ford himself agreed to cover the cost of Jeanette’s birth as long as she was born in Henry Ford Hospital.

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

Read more about Sister Jeanette. (PDF)

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

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(1934-2023)

Sister Kathryn has most definitely earned the right to rest in eternal peace after dedicating her life to giving us all peace and a wonderful Catholic education. For five decades she was like another mother for us, no matter how many years passed. … She never forgot the little things about her students, as well as the big things. She was much more than a principal; she was our mother, grandmother, aunt, babysitter, mentor, teacher, and school nurse. She will be sorely missed but also forever remembered and loved.
 
In this remembrance, Ellen Early was writing about Sister Kathryn Hartnett, who in the time since Ellen had been in school, had become a lifelong friend, even doing a reading at Ellen’s wedding and giving the newlywed couple a piece of art which Sister had framed herself.
 
Kathryn Marguerite Hartnett, known to most people as Kate, was born on December 21, 1934, in Chicago to James and Claire (Kavanaugh) Hartnett. She was the youngest of three children, following James Michael and Jean. James was born in 1929, Jean arrived about a year and a half later, and then Claire had a number of miscarriages before Kate was born.
 
“I was treated like I was kind of a miracle, but I felt more like an only child because my brother and sister were so much older than I was,” Sister Kate said in her life story. “I didn’t get to go to many of the places they went to because of the age difference.”

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

Read more about Sister Kathryn Hartnett, OP.

 

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(1931-2023)

Sister Elizabeth Demirgian, or “Betty” as she was generally known, titled her autobiography “Beyond Chance” because, to her, nothing in her life had unfolded simply by coincidence.

Her story begins with that of her parents, both refugees fleeing the persecution – and worse – of Armenians by the ruling Ottoman Empire. Edward Demirgian left Adana, Armenia, in about 1908 at the age of fifteen. The next year, Adana was the site of a mass killing of thousands of Armenian Christians. Then, in 1914 and the years immediately following, what has become known as the Armenian genocide took place, with hundreds of thousands of people killed or forcibly relocated. Betty’s mother, Ebrakce Ekshian, who was born in Constantinople (later known as Istanbul), Turkey, left with her family for the United States in 1915, right in the midst of that situation.

Both families settled in Queens, New York, and Edward went on to become a tailor and own his own business. After he and Ebrakce married, three children came into the family: two boys, Archie and Berge, and then Betty, who was born on November 9, 1931, and baptized Elizabeth Ann in the Armenian Orthodox church.

When Betty was fourteen, the family relocated to Miami, Florida, where Edward and Archie established Ansonia Cleaners, a dry-cleaning business that held the contracts for dry cleaning and valet services for several of Miami Beach’s most prestigious hotels, including the Fontainebleau. Berge, who after military service in World War II attended the Pratt Institute in New York intending to become a graphic designer, eventually joined his father and brother in the family business.

Betty completed her high school education at St. Patrick High School in Miami Beach in 1949 and then continued her connection with the Adrian Dominican Sisters as a student at Barry College (University). She graduated from Barry in 1953 with a degree in home economics and then did post-graduate work to finish a major in chemistry, thinking she wanted to do scientific research and perhaps go on to medical school.

Read more about Sister Betty (PDF)

 

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

 

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