(1929-2019)

An era in Adrian Dominican history ended when Sister Jeanne Burns, the last surviving member of the General Council that was elected at the 1968 Chapter of Renewal to serve with Sister Rosemary Ferguson, died on July 18, 2019.

Sister Jeanne was born on March 3, 1929, in Chicago to Thomas and Laura (Mackey) Burns. Thomas worked for the Consumers Ice and Coal Company, and when Jeanne was almost five years old the family moved to Rockford, Illinois, when Thomas was transferred there as manager. She was the youngest of eleven children in the Burns family; her five brothers and five sisters were John, Robert, Thomas, William, James, Frances, Lorraine, Rosemary, Betty, and Catherine.

In an extensive autobiography written as a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) requirement, Sister Jeanne remembered her childhood as a happy one and that she was always aware of her parents’ love even though they were not especially demonstrative in their affection. She said she could only recall being spanked twice: once when three of them were jumping on a bed and broke it, and once when she ate her sister’s Valentine cinnamon hearts.