(1937-2025)

Sister Margarita “Margot” Ruíz, formerly known as Sister Maria Teresa, died on Monday, May 26, 2025, at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian. She was 88 years of age and in the 71st year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
 
Sister Margot was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to Humberto Ruíz and Ana (Berges) Castillo. She graduated from Colegio Santo Domingo in Santo Domingo and earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Barry College (University) in Miami, Florida; a licentiate in pastoral theology from Lumen Vitae in Brussels, Belgium; and a master’s degree in sociology from the University Iberoamericana in Mexico. 

Sister Margarita served for 17 years in elementary and secondary education in Dearborn, Michigan; Guayama, Puerto Rico; Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and San Juan de La Maguana and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She served two years as a pastoral promoter, five years as a rural community organizer, and three years as team coordinator in the Dominican Republic. 

Sister Margot ministered for five years as the director of the Conference of Religious Studies, the Conferencia Dominican Religious, in Santo Domingo and served for seven years on the Congregation’s Dominican Republic formation team. She also taught for 13 years at the Centro de Teología Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Santo Domingo and later served for more than seven years as a volunteer at the De Porres Place Literacy Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

Sister became a resident of the Dominican Life Center in 2020. She was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings, Fernando, Humberto, Hugo, Felix, and Pura Ruíz. She is survived by her sister, Teresita Ruíz, OP, also in the Adrian Dominican Congregation; other loving family members; and her Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Visitation will be held from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in the gathering space of St. Catherine Chapel. The Vigil Prayer will be held at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in St. Catherine Chapel. A Funeral Mass will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Prayers of Committal will be held in the Congregation Cemetery. 

Those not attending services in person are welcome to participate via live stream at https://adriandominicans.org/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.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

 

LEFT: Margarita at the age of five, 1942. MIDDLE LEFT: First Holy Communion, 1943. MIDDLE RIGHT: From left, Sisters Maria Teresa (Margarita) Ruíz and Margarita Maria (Teresita) Ruíz, blood sisters. RIGHT: Sister Margarita’s parents, Ana and Humberto, at the World’s Fair in Belgium, 1958.

LEFT: Sister Margarita attends a school Mass in Haina, the Dominican Republic. RIGHT: Members of the Martin de Porres Mission Group, gathered in 1998, are: standing, from left, Sisters Anne Liam Lees, Joyce Caulfield, Elisa Doherty, Helen Faiver, and Rosa Reyes, and seated, from left, Sisters Margarita Ruíz, Carol Gross, and Ana Feliz.

LEFT: Sister Margarita Ruíz, left, and Joaquina Pacheco-Villar at the beach in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic. MIDDLE: Celebrating Christmas together are, from left, Sisters Yolanda Pomante, Margaret Augustine Exworthy, Andrea Balconis, Mary Jean Clemenger, and Margarita Ruíz. RIGHT: Sister Margarita Ruíz preaches a homily during a spirituality course in Brazil, 1993.

LEFT: From left, Sisters Margarita and Teresita. RIGHT:  Members of the 2013 Diamond Jubilee Crowd B, December 1953 reception, are: back row from left, Sisters Joan Schroeder, Margaret Ann Roggenbuck, Marie Rose Bauer, Attracta Kelly (Prioress), Dorothy Guettler, Janet Wright, and Carol Fleming; middle row, from left, Sisters Margaret Marie Ringel, Frances Wetzel, Janice Scholl, Patricia Ann McKee, Patricia Sporer, Pauline Richter, and Barbara Chenicek; and front row, from left, Sisters Joan Mary Dwyer, Josephine Gaugier, Margarita Ruíz, Mary Vianne Bayus, Lorraine Brennan, Mary E. Waldron, and Mary Cullen.

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