(1936-2020)

Given that her family belonged to St. Ann’s Parish in West Palm Beach, Florida, she was a student at Rosarian Academy, and she had two cousins who were already Adrian Dominican Sisters (Sisters Rita Gleason and Mary Elizabeth Waldron), it comes as no surprise that when Helen Wilson felt a call to religious life, it was to the Adrian Dominicans.

Helen Margaret was the youngest of four children born to Spencer and Mary (Gleason) Wilson. Spencer and Mary were both natives of upstate New York and married after Spencer returned from service in World War I.

A son and a daughter, Bobby and Mary, were born in New York. After the Wilsons moved to West Palm Beach in the early 1920s, Angela and then Helen, born on March 24, 1936, came into the family as well.

All four of the children were taught by the Adrian Dominican Sisters: Bobby and Mary at St. Ann’s School, and Angela and Helen at Rosarian Academy for all twelve years of their education. “We had wonderful teachers and I loved the Sisters who instilled in us good study habits and the discipline was very tight, yet we knew the Sisters liked us and encouraged us,” Sister Helen wrote in her autobiography. “The Sisters always gave us [a] very good example and humor was mixed with their joy.”

Read more about Sister Helen (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).