In my day of grade school, nuns were given names of male saints. She was Sister john Gabriel. My favorite rememberance of her was back in 1968. She was a nun at Holy Comforter School.....She covered our 3rd grade music class for Mrs. Cox (who couldn't sing)...it is cardinals vs. Tigers world series....one of the guys in class is listening to game on transistor radio thru ear piece...she catches him...asks the score...he goes 3 to 2 tigers....she let's out a cheer....then reminds him that if we bring something to class we have to be willing to share it with everyone... so instead of singing we wond up listening the world series! She was just a very special fun person, and will forever be in the hearts of everyone who ever had the joy of being associated with her!

I will forever remember this lady of God. I met her when I was a child going to the Church of the Resurrection in Lansing, MI. She was a positive influence, and she helped to bring some badly needed light into the darkness of my childhood, whenever she visit my home parish.

Respectfully,
In God We Bless,
Andrew Earley

So many wonderful memories growing up around Sister Mary Kay. I remember going to the Teen Center every Wednesday night...Sister Mary Kay would come pick us up in the big Catholic church van...We would play music, dance, hangout with our friends that were there...We had so much fun going to the Catholic Bible School every summer, for two weeks and then put on the Christmas play for everyone during the Catholic Christmas Party...No, many of us kids weren't Catholic, but Sister Mary Kay still made us feel at home. I will always think of the good times I shared with her and I thank her for being apart of my life and my community for so many, many years. "Go fly high with the angels, Sister Mary Kay...your work on earth is done!"

Thoughts on Mary K or as they say in Kentucky "Muuurry K" from the hollers of Kentucky.
Two Adrian Dominicans, Ellen and Mary K were serving in the parish in Beattyville when I did a term of ministry for my degree in January of 1978. She supported my discernment to enter the congregation later that same year in August. MaryKay had a dream of the shelter for the women and children in the area that started the next year in 1979. Her contagious courage, as she faced the trials and challenges of violence in the families was inspiring. With the help of many, including her parents, Rita and Al Drouin, they established the Resurrection home as a safe place for mothers and children. The "closet" and the annex were added for twice blessed clothes and household items coming from some of the parishes of Michigan. Rita and Al lived out their days after moving from Michigan to serve there with Mary K.
Mary K invited me to join her Ministry in 1983 as the youth worker in the area of Beattyville. It was not a good fit at the time, but we kept in touch over the years. Words that describe Mary K would be someone who listens with her heart, then responds to the people of Appalachia. The situations of care for the people shifted from the care of women abused, to children and now the grand mothers, giving support to anyone in need. Supporting the ongoing work even from a distance, with Charlene in the lead, Mary K always shared God's love. She would try to give more than she received. When Godfrey and I visited her at Resurrection home in the winter before covid, we brought her a gift from our land of maple syrup. She felt a need to give us something of her blessed hills of Kentucky, a bouquet of wooden flowers. Only God could out give her.
Mary K's words of wisdom when she was asked just a short time before she died were "live your life with God's love". She was a powerful example of God's love in action. May she and all those that have died in Christ, rest in peace.

There's no doubt that Sister Mary Kay was one of the finest people ever to call Lee County, Ky., home. She was a friend to all and I can't think of anyone who didn't dearly love her. I know my mother thought the world of her and the feeling was mutual. I saw where someone locally had called her "the hugging nun." That's pretty much the truth. I never saw her that she didn't give me a huge hug, tell me how much she thought of my mom, and would ask about my brother and, when he was still alive, my dad. Lee County is a better place for her having chosen to make her home and conduct her ministry here. Hopefully her legacy will live on through Resurrection Home, and may she never be forgotten in Beattyville.