(1929-2021)

In the early part of the 20th Century, Detroit’s east side was not nearly as urban as it would soon come to be, and farmland near Harper Avenue became home to the Sinnamon family: Harry and Irma (DeMaire) Sinnamon and their five children.

Harry was born in Portadown, Ireland, and came to Connecticut at age 21, while Irma was born in Bernem, Belgium, and arrived in Detroit when she was three years old with her mother and siblings, to join her father who was already there. After Harry completed military service in World War I he ended up in Detroit, and he and Irma met on Irma’s parents’ farm on Harper Avenue. Irma’s father later bought some nearby farmland and built a house there, on Elmdale Street, for the young couple when they married.

Theresa, born on September 5, 1929, was the fourth of five children and the only girl. Her brothers were Harry, Lawrence, James and Edward. The children all attended St. David School, where they were taught by Sisters of St. Joseph from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The year Theresa finished eighth grade, her oldest brother, Harry, died in his sleep of a heart issue at age nineteen. Not surprisingly, his death hit the family hard, especially Irma. “My mother found his death very difficult to accept, and one that she never really got over,” Sister Theresa wrote in her autobiography.

Read more about Sister Theresa (PDF)

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

 

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