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July 13, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – Children, parents, teachers, and school administrators from Detroit to Arizona and California have cause for gratitude as Sister Teresa Estrada, OP, turned 100 on July 2, 2026. Sister Teresa ministered as teacher, principal, colleague, and friend.  

In addition to celebrating her birthday this year, Sister Teresa was one of the Adrian Dominican Congregation’s Jubilarians; she marked 70 years as an Adrian Dominican Sister. 

Sister Teresa’s birthday was celebrated at the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse on July 2, 2026, with a special Mass, lunch, and a party, attended by Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, and friends. During the party, she received proclamations from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, State Senator Joseph Bellino, and State Representative Nancy Jenkins-Arno. 

“I’ve had a happy life,” Sister Terry said. “I still get letters from one of the teachers going back 40 or 50 years. I loved teaching children, and I thought it was a gift that God gave me. I tried to find the best way that I could help these children.” She also appreciated the parents and the opportunities to help the parents raise their children to be the best that they could be.

“I love what we did today,” Sister Teresa told her group of well-wishers. “I am filled with such joy for this celebration of my jubilee ... and my 100th birthday .... Thank you for the written and spoken messages of love, unity, and support, which I will hold in my heart forever.”

Born on July 2, 1926, in Pirtleville, Arizona, Sister Teresa was the daughter of Manuel and Maria (Rodriguez) Estrada. She entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation on June 26, 1956, and received her high school diploma from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian in 1958. She was received as a novice on December 27, 1956, taking on the religious name of Sister Marie Manuel. She professed her first vows on December 28, 1957, and her final (perpetual) vows on December 28, 1962.

Sister Teresa holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Siena Heights College (University), Adrian, and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

After teaching at St. Philomena in Detroit from 1958 to 1962, Sister Teresa began her final years of ministry in the Southwest. She ministered in education for 30 years in Arizona: as a teacher at St. Anthony, Casa Grande, 1962-1968; as both teacher and principal at St. Joseph, Winslow, 1968-1974; and as a teacher at Santa Cruz Elementary, 1974-1987.

Sister Teresa spent the rest of her formal ministerial life serving at St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School in Tustin, California, as teacher from 1987 to 2007 and then as plant supervisor from 2007 to 2017. In 2018, she took on the role of altar server coordinator until 2021, continuing to serve the school in any way she could until 2022, when she retired and moved to the Dominican Life Center in Adrian.     

Sister Teresa also appreciated the Sisters she worked with and the leaders of the Adrian Dominican Congregation. “I have been blessed with religious women in leadership in the Adrian Dominicans and in the Little Company of Mary [founders of St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School], who have been remarkably supportive in all my ministries. I am grateful and humbled by the trust with which the parents have placed their children under my care,” she said.

Sister Teresa also influenced the Adrian Dominican Sisters who came to know her through the years. “I was influenced by her presence and her joy, always participating in whatever was going on and always coming prepared,” said Sister Lorraine Brennan, OP. “Her quiet prayerfulness was another influence. She would listen intently and if she had something to say, she would say it.” 

Sister Victoria Dalesandro, OP, has known Sister Teresa since Sister Victoria first entered the Congregation, when Sister Teresa was a Novice. “No matter where she went, she had good relationships with people. Even the nurses who take care of her right now, she calls them her students or her kids. I think her legacy is love – love of people. That’s what you pick up from Terry.”

Watch the video of Sister Teresa’s birthday celebration. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Sara Fairbanks, OP, standing right, Mission Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, offers a tribute to Sister Teresa Estrada, OP, seated left. Seated with her, from left, are her sister Salud “Sally” Estrada, ODN, and Sister Marie Luisa Vasquez, OP. Sister Patricia Leonard, OP, standing, right, is Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. 

July 6, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy and gratitude, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, relatives, and friends gathered to honor the witness and dedicated lives of 47 Sisters celebrating their Jubilees, their milestone anniversaries of religious life. The 2026 Jubilee celebration brought the Sisters to the Motherhouse for special activities June 25-27.

Sisters who celebrated these milestone anniversaries included three 80-year Jubilarians, two 75-year Jubilarians, 22 70-year (Double-Diamond) Jubilarians, 14 60-year (Diamond) Jubilarians, five 40-year (Ruby) Jubilarians, and one 25-year (Silver) Jubilarian. Together, the Jubilarians generously have given 2,995 years of religious life to God, God’s people, and the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

The celebration opened with a meeting of the Jubilarians with the General Council, followed by supper and a reception for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. 

The event took on a contemplative tone on June 26, when Jubilarians and other Adrian Dominican Sisters gathered for a Mass to celebrate nearly 160 deceased Sisters who would have celebrated their Jubilee this year. The name of each was read solemnly, while a handbell tolled after every 10 names that had been proclaimed. 

“We honor the memory of these women and remember their strong dedication to the Gospel,” Sister Carol Weber, OP, a 60-year Jubilarian, said in a reflection. “They went where God called them …. Their lives were steeped in prayer,” and their relationship with Jesus was “their very foundation.” 

Sister Carol also reflected on the group of women who followed Jesus and who came to his tomb early to anoint his body only to discover that he was alive. They announced Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles. “These women had a deep relationship with Jesus,” Sister Carol said. “They walked with him, they cried with him. They listened to him, and they loved him.

“I believe the women of the Gospel and our deceased Jubilarians leave us with a challenge,” Sister Carol said. “No matter our age or physical ability, we are still called to a deep relationship with Jesus, and to share that with everyone who crosses our path.”

The 47 living Jubilarians were celebrated during the Jubilee Mass on June 27. Father James Hug, SJ, presider, thanked the Jubilarians “for all the occasions, in good times and in hard times, in which you responded to God’s call to live in the light, to be the light, to show mercy and hope, conscious of those you have touched and blessed through the years, and of those who touched and blessed you.”

Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, noted that the readings for the day focused on the call to abiding love. “They speak of the heart of the call, so vibrantly alive in each of you. Jesus makes that call clear to his disciples in this Gospel: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’”

Sister Elise described the “incredibly rich and diverse ways” in which that call had borne fruit in the lives of the Jubilarians: as educators at all levels, from elementary school to college, university, and seminary education, and in various aspects of ministry in hospitals and healthcare, parishes, dioceses, leadership, nonprofit organizations, justice advocacy, social work, accompaniment with people at the margins, and vocation and formation. The Jubilarians also served in nearly every state and in the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Taiwan, Kenya, and South Africa.

“You have lived your lives, entering into the communion of life and love that is God’s gift to all people,” Sister Elise said to the Jubilarians. “Through your loving ministry, you have invited countless children, women, men, and people of faith or no faith into the community of life and love.”

The Jubilarians demonstrated their continued commitment to God, God’s people, and the Congregation as they renewed their vows. The celebration continued after the Liturgy with a festive dinner for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. Even after the formal celebration, Jubilarians continued to celebrate with other Adrian Dominican Sisters, their invited guests, family members, and friends.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Awaiting the procession for the Jubilee Mass are, front row, from left, Sisters Durstyne Farnan, OP, Carol Weber, OP, and Theresa Mayrand, OP, all 60-year Jubilarians; and back row, from left, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, and Father James Hug, SJ, presider.