(1939-2021)

In her six decades as an Adrian Dominican, Sister Mary Kay Moran’s ministries took her from big cities such as Detroit, San Francisco, and Chicago to the remote islands of southeastern Alaska.

Mary Catherine Moran, as she was baptized although she was always known as Mary Kay, was born in Toledo, Ohio, on May 25, 1939, to William and Mary (Heitkamp) Moran. She was the second of three children born to the couple, her siblings being Thomas and Barbara.

At some point very early in Mary Kay’s life the family moved to Detroit’s northwest side. William, a Toledo native, was a yardmaster for the New York Central Railroad, while Mary, who was born in the small unincorporated town of North Creek, Ohio, was a stay-at-home mother.

In her life story, Sister Mary Kay remembered her childhood as a very happy one. She attended kindergarten at Burt Elementary School and then was educated at Christ the King School and Our Lady of Mercy High School.

Although she began thinking about religious life as early as seventh grade, she was not especially attracted to either the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters who taught at Christ the King or to the Mercy Sisters of her high school years. And so, after graduating from high school in 1957 she went to work as a clerk at the J.L. Hudson Department Store.

Read more about Sister Mary Kay (pdf)

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

 

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