(1924-2018)

This was a world

-of Nancy Drew and Therese of Lisieux;
-of Cardinal Mundelein and Father P.J. McGuire;
-of President Roosevelt and Blessed Martin de Porres;
-of chance books and St. Patrick’s Day plays;
-of novenas and May crownings;
-of diagramming participles and memorizing poetry.

This was how Sister Dorothy Folliard, in her life story, remembered her childhood in the Chicago of the 1930s. She was the second oldest of five children – four girls and one boy – born to Michael and Margaret (O’Connor) Folliard, Irish immigrants from County Roscommon and County Kerry, respectively, who met in Chicago and married in 1921. Michael was a street car operator, while Margaret oversaw home and family.

Originally, the Folliards lived in St. Columbanus Parish, but when Sister Dorothy was two years old the family moved to St. Laurence Parish, where they lived next door to the convent and could hear the prayers and laughter of the Adrian Dominican Sisters there. “We went to the store with them as ‘companion.’ We loved them in their black cloaks and in their colorful house dresses for Friday night cleaning. We thrived in their school across the street,” Sister Dorothy recalled.

Read more about Sister Dorothy (pdf)

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

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