(1939-2019)

Both of Sister Patricia Brady’s parents were born in Northern Ireland, Francis Joseph Brady in County Down and Mary Margaret Quinn in County Tyrone. The two met in Toronto, Canada, having immigrated there to seek better opportunities than existed in their homeland, and married and settled down in Montreal, Canada. It wasn’t long, however, before the young couple returned to Toronto, where their oldest child, Francis Leo, was born.

A few years later, Sister Pat’s father went to Chicago to find work, and when he got a job in the stockyards there, Mary and their son joined him in the United States. Later, he went to work for the Chicago Transit Authority as a streetcar conductor, and spent the rest of his working life in various positions with the CTA.

Within a year of their arrival in the States, the couple welcomed another baby into the family, a boy they named Kevin. Sadly, however, Kevin died of diphtheria before his second birthday. Pat was born on March 12, 1939, receiving her name because of her arrival coming just before St. Patrick’s Day. Two years later, Daniel was born, and then ten years went by before another girl, Colleen, came into the family, followed by Mary four years after that.

Because the family moved often, Sister Pat attended four grade schools around Chicago, one of them twice: St. Felicitas, St. Columbanus, St. Felicitas again, Little Flower, and finally St. Kilian. This variety of schools brought her into contact with three congregations of Sisters: IHMs, Mercy Sisters, and the Adrian Dominicans who taught at St. Kilian’s. When it came time for high school, she chose the Adrian Dominican-operated Aquinas High School, which required an hour-plus ride on city buses each way, over another school that was within walking distance of home.

Read more about Sister Patricia (formerly Sister Francis Kevin) (pdf)

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

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