(1932-2019)

“My fourth grade held a very important incident – I became a full-fledged Dominican nun!”

This line begins a section bearing the title “Today I Am a Dominican!” in the autobiography Sister Joan Unger wrote at age sixteen. A reader puzzled by the assertion that Joan became a Dominican sister in fourth grade – and by the photos included showing the nine-year-old in a white habit – would see the mystery solved in just a few sentences; she went on to explain that she had played a nun in a school play. Still, however, one line from the teenaged Joan’s story about that experience would turn out to be prophetic: “You know, being a nun was fun. I think I’ll try it again sometime!”

Joan Adele Unger was born June 4, 1932, in Seattle, Washington, to Nathan and Ann (Sexton) Unger. She was the youngest of six children: two boys (James and Richard) and three girls (Natalie, Dorothy, and Rosemary) preceded her in the family.