(1934-2019)

“Tonight, we gather to celebrate the life of a woman who was quiet, gentle, fun to be with, loved nature, and loved her family.”

So began the eulogy for Sister Patricia Dolan delivered by Sister Rosemary Asaro, Holy Rosary Chapter Assistant, at Sister Patricia’s wake service.

Sister Pat was born February 16, 1934, in Chicago to William and Catherine (Newton) Dolan. Both Bill and Catherine were natives of Buffalo, New York; Bill’s ancestors had arrived in the mid-1840s to work on the Erie Canal, while Catherine’s maternal grandmother had arrived alone from Scotland at the age of eighteen. Grandma Newton married and had five children before her husband died when Catherine was just ten years old. Catherine had to leave high school after her first year in order to help with the family finances through her job as a telephone operator. As for Bill, he was a Canisius College graduate who went on to a forty-four year career with the Federal Sign and Signal Company.

Catherine and Bill met at a dance and married in Buffalo in 1928. They moved to Chicago soon thereafter and settled in St. Laurence Parish before moving to St. Ailbe Parish around 1931. Four children came into the family: Margaret in 1929, Bill in 1932, Pat in 1934, and Maureen in 1937.

Read more about Sister Patricia (pdf)