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(1925-2023)
Bristol, Quebec, Canada, was the birthplace of Mary Helen McCann, the future Sister Kathleen Therese, who entered the world on December 2, 1925, as the first-born child of Edmund and Mary Catherine (Bennett) McCann.
Edmund and Mary Catherine were both born in Quebec, and Ed went on to become a carpenter while Mary Catherine worked at a hotel in Quyon. The couple moved to Detroit after they married, but when it was time for Mary Helen to be born her mother went back to her family’s farm for the birth because her own mother was a midwife. Mary Helen was born in the same farmhouse as her mother had been, and possibly in the same room.
Mary Catherine and her new baby headed back home when Mary Helen was two months old. Over time, six more children came into the McCann family: Theresa, Michael, Betty, Beatrice, Lois, and Donald.
At some point along the way, the family moved to nearby Royal Oak (a section of the city which today is part of Madison Heights) and then went back to Detroit, where they lived in St. Dominic Parish. “Since some of those years were the Depression years I’m sure my parents had a hard time managing and I know now we were poor, but growing up I didn’t know it,” Sister Kathleen Therese wrote in her autobiography.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.
Read more about Sister Kathleen (PDF).
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
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The McCann & Crawley families became ever-connected when Sister Kathleen’s brother, Michael McCann married our Aunt Irene on April 11, 1964. Over the years, we experienced so many gatherings ~ Baptisms, First Communions, Graduations, Funerals ~ and so many of those times Sister Kathleen was present. She truly lived a beautiful, unselfish life filled with the love, friendship and laughter shared with her Dominican Sisterhood as well as the many students, hospitalized patients and other individuals whose life she touched ~ not the least of which were her many siblings, nieces and nephews within the ever-growing McCann Family. I was able to visit Sister Kathleen a number of years ago with Irene, Sheila and Diane. It was such a lovely experience to see her apartment, visit the chapel and tour the campus. What a memory she had for names, places, cities, parishes she served over her lifetime. She always expressed a sincere interest in everyone she met and her sense of humor and heartfelt laugh was a bonus. It was truly a blessing to know Sister Kathleen ~ a beautiful person inside and out. A beautiful life serving God. I’m certain the angels danced her home.
Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance.
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