(1934-2021)

… People have blood running through their veins. I am wondering if Mary did not have an equal amount of MUSIC running through hers. She was one with her music, her students and her piano. Music brought life to Mary – life that she passed on to students and colleagues alike.

Sister Mary Ann Caulfield, Florida Mission Chapter Prioress, was referring in this quote to Sister Mary Tindel, an accomplished musician who spent her entire life as an Adrian Dominican showing others the power of music to lift spirits and to bring people and God closer together.

Mary Edith Tindel was born on April 28, 1934, in Miami, Florida, to John and Carolyn (Gach) Tindel. She was the couple’s oldest child, followed by her brother John.

Her father, who died of cancer when Mary was just nine years old, was a painter and her mother a housekeeper for a family that traveled to Fishers Island, New York, in the summers, so the Tindel children spent time in either Florida or New York depending on the time of year. Mary attended St. Mary School in Miami for her first four years of school and then went to St. Patrick School in Miami Beach for the rest of her primary and secondary education.

Read more about Sister Mary (pdf, updated with photos 7/7/21)

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

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(1933-2021)

When Precious Blood Parish on Detroit’s northwest side was still new, among its earliest members were the Burke family: Peter and Marjorie (Reske) and, over time, four children: Don, Larry, Noreen, and Carole.

Peter and Marjorie could not have grown up in more different circumstances from each other. Peter was born into a family of six boys, raised by their mother alone after his father died early of heart disease. Bridget, Peter’s mother, “ran a lively and mischievous household. Apparently, no prank was too much trouble as long as she kept everyone laughing and enjoying life.”

Marjorie, on the other hand, was orphaned at age five and originally sent with her sister to an orphanage while her younger brothers were raised by her four aunts. Eventually, “the Aunts,” as they became collective known in family lore, brought the girls home too and raised all the children in a loving but “Puritanical” home. “Imagine poor Marjorie’s terror when Peter was courting her, and brought her into the boisterous Burke clan!” Sister Noreen wrote.

Read more about Sister Noreen (pdf, updated with photos 7-7-21) 

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

 

 

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(1935-2021)

I have loved my life as a Dominican! I have been surrounded by a cast of characters that would put Dickens to shame. I have witnessed a splendid array of women living out their vocation, imperfectly and individually, in friendship and sometimes in what we Dominicans call “disputation.” Through it all, I observed and became part of relationships of an astounding variety and the countercultural message took root; study, work and success are worthless without the steady underpinning of God and of people who know you and with whom you can be yourself.

Sister Patricia McCarty, who wrote these words near the end of her autobiography, was born on November 11, 1935, in Detroit. She was the first child of William and Frances (Brinker) McCarty, whom she described as “a tall, handsome, kind Irishman with a keen sense of humor” and “a strong, sensible little German lady.” Her brother, Bill, was born when she was three, and when she was nine her sister, Kathleen, came into the family.

Her elementary schooling was at St. Matthew School, where she was taught by the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Sisters. These were happy years, she wrote, but “I was quite a worrier and worked very hard,” always doing everything she could to keep her grades high.

She kept up her high academic standards as a student at Dominican High School, even being inducted into the National Honor Society, but she also got involved in several extracurricular activities, had a busy social life, and made many friends. She also was deeply influenced by the Adrian Dominican Sisters who were her teachers.

Read more about Sister Patricia (pdf)

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

 

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(1937-2021)

County Mayo and County Armagh in Ireland were the birthplaces of, respectively, Michael and Elizabeth (Dowdall) Cooney, the parents of Sister Leontia Cooney.

Michael and Elizabeth came to Canada, where both had family, in order to marry, and then moved to Detroit, where Michael got a job with the Ford Motor Company. The couple had four children: Patrick; Mary; Leontia (who came to be known simply as “Lee”), who was born on December 30, 1937; and Michael.

All the children had their primary education with the Adrian Dominican Sisters at St. Edward School, where in second grade Lee had her first thoughts about religious life when her teacher, Sister Fabian Jacyna, talked to the children about what Sisters did and the relationship they had to God.

Her junior and senior years of high school were spent at St. Mary’s Commercial School, run by the IHM Sisters. Her father wanted her to attend the commercial school because he thought secretarial work was a good, stable job for young women, and when Lee told her parents she wanted to become an Adrian Dominican Sister, he was hesitant. Her mother’s response, however, was that if that was what she wanted to do, they needed to support her.

Read more about Sister Leonita (pdf)

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

 

Leave your comments and remembrances (if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link).