(1936-2024)

Sister Annette Marie Sinagra, formerly known as Sister Mary Grace, died on Monday, August 12, 2024, at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian. She was 88 years of age and in the 66th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

Sister Annette Marie was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank and Grace (Zangra) Sinagra. She graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio; received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian; and earned a master’s degree in education from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.

Sister ministered for 15 years in elementary, secondary, and adult education in Santo Domingo and Las Matas, Dominican Republic; and Melbourne, Florida. From 1970 to 1981 she was involved in adult religious education and as a rural community organizer in La Vega and San Jose de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic. She worked for human rights in Detroit, Michigan, from 1981 to 1982.

Sister Annette returned to the Dominican Republic in 1982 and was an advocate for social justice in Higuey and Santo Domingo until 1988. The following year she was an administrative assistant for the Adrian Dominican Congregation, representing the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) in Washington, D.C. From 1989 to 2009, she was the Coordinator of Corporate Responsibility for the PAB office and later served as a special project consultant to the Congregation, both in Adrian.

Sister Annette moved to the Dominican Life Center in 2016. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Theresann Santoro. She is survived by a brother, Anthony “Tony” Sinagra (Lucy); other loving family members; and her Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Prayers of Committal will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, in the Congregation Cemetery. A Memorial Mass for Sister Annette Marie will be offered at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 in St. Catherine Chapel and a Ritual of Remembrance will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in the Rose Room of the Dominican Life Center. 

Those not attending the Memorial Mass or Ritual of Remembrance in person are welcome to participate via live stream.

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

 

 

Photo Middle: First Holy Communion, 1944. Photo Right: The Sinagra family, from left: Grace (mother), Annette Marie, Theresann (sister), Nate (father) and Tony (brother), 1942.

Photo Left: Sister Annette Marie teaches first grade at a school in Las Matas, May 1971. Photo Right: From left, Sister Annette Sinagra, her mother Grace Sinagra, and her sister Theresann Sinagra, circa 1954. 

Photo Left: Ministering in the Dominican Republic are, from left, Sisters Helen Faiver, Gladys Marie LeVack, Anne Liam Lees, and Annette Marie Sinagra. Photo Right: From left, Sisters Margaret Lane, Mary Pat Dewey, Annette Sinagra, and Luisa Campos.

Photo Left: Members of the Portfolio Advisory Board, August 1991, are: back row, from left, Sisters Frances Lombaer, Frances Nadolny, Maureen Fenlon, Juliann Flynn, Marion Coppe, and Carol Coston; middle row, from left, Sisters Corinne Florek, Attracta Kelly, Mary Katherine Dolan, Annette Sinagra, and Marion Goeddeke; and front row, from left, Sisters Patricia Reno, Judith Rimbey, Marie Michael, and Maureen Comer. Photo Right: At Oakwood House in Adrian, Christmas 1995.

Leading in the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) Coke Divestiture Boycott on October 24, 1989, are, from left, Sisters Donna Markham, Eileen Hussey, Frances Nadolny, Patricia Siemen, Attracta Kelly, Nadine Foley, and Annette Sinagra. 

Members of the 2008 Golden Jubilee September-February Crowd are: standing, from left, Sisters Charlene Cote, Mary Rita McSweeney, Kathleen Clausen, and Marilyn Felice Barnett, and seated, from left, Sisters Attracta Kelly, Maria Odelia Romero, Annette Marie Sinagra, and Mary Katherine Dolan. Sister Iva Gregory is not pictured.  

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