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October 2, 2019, Adrian, Michigan – Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, family members and friends, gathered September 27, 2019 to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sister Marie Bride Walsh, OP. This year also marks Sister Marie Bride’s 80-year Jubilee.

The celebration began with Mass in St. Catherine Chapel. Sister Joanne Peters, OP, Co-Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter at the Motherhouse, welcomed Sisters, three generations of Sister Marie Bride’s family, friends, and former colleagues from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian and Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Illinois.  

“We’ve come to celebrate life – Marie Bride’s life for all these years, walking for all these years with many of us,” said Father James Hug, SJ, Motherhouse Chaplain. “We celebrate the gift of our lives and of her life with ours.”

Sister Maria Goretti Browne, OP, offers a reflection during the special Mass for the 100th birthday of Sister Marie Bride Walsh, OP.

During her homily, Sister Maria Goretti Browne, OP, noted that Jesus taught with authority, through example and not just words, and of the way that he lifted the burdens from people’s shoulders. Like Jesus, she said, “Sister Marie Bride taught by her example. Many of her former students still come to visit her. They don’t come because she was a good math teacher. They come because she listened to them. … Like Jesus, she lifted them up. She was a kind, approachable, forgiving listener. How much more like Jesus could she be?” 

The afternoon reception gave participants the opportunity to pay tribute to Sister Marie Bride formally. Sister Patricia Dulka, OP, Co-Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Chapter, served as mistress of ceremonies. Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, assured Sister Marie Bride of the gratitude and prayers of the Adrian Dominican Congregation. 

Sister Rosemary Asaro, OP, Assistant for Holy Rosary Chapter, offered an opening prayer. “May the blessings of this day be the memories of a long life, the blessings and support of your family and community…and the love we all have for you, Sister Marie Bride.”

The formal program focused on the reading of proclamations by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, State Senator Dale Zorn, State Representative Bronna Kahle, and U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters and an Apostolic Blessing by Pope Francis. 

The proclamations noted Sister Marie Bride’s accomplishments and the wisdom that she gained through a long life complete with many changes. Senator Gary Peters noted the impact that Sister Marie Bride had. “As a teacher for 67 years, you touched the lives of thousands of children as you enhanced their math and science skills,” he wrote. 

Born September 27, 1919 in Chicago, Sister Marie Bride was the youngest of five children born to John and Bridget (Lyons) Walsh: Jean, who changed her name to Janet; Mary Elizabeth; Catherine, known fondly as Toss; and Joseph, two years older than Sister Marie Bride. She was baptized Therese Rita Walsh, and took her religious name – Marie Bride – in honor of her mother.

Sister Marie Bride was a little over a year old when her mother died. “One of my uncles, Father John Lyons, contacted his sisters in the east and three of us went to my Aunt Kate’s in Troy, New York,” Sister Marie Bride said. “My brother and oldest sister went to relatives in Rensselaer, New York, where my mother’s sister and her husband ran a farm.”

After their father remarried a widow, May Kendrick, the children resided with him at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Chicago until they moved to Maywood, Illinois when Sister Marie Bride was about four years old. The three youngest daughters were sent to St. Joseph Academy in Adrian. The next year, as a junior, Mary Elizabeth entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation, taking the religious name Sister Mary Jean. 

Curtis Dvorak, right, great-nephew of Sister Marie Bride; his son Dax; and his wife Jasmine visit with Sister Marie Bride.

By the time Sister Marie Bride was in seventh grade, her sisters at St. Joseph Academy had graduated. She returned to Troy, New York, with her aunt, attending eighth grade there and graduating from Catholic Central in Troy in 1937. She attended Siena Heights College (University) for a year and followed her sister into the Adrian Dominican Congregation on January 6, 1939. 

Sister Marie Bride holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Siena Heights College, 1943, and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan, 1948. 

Sister Marie Bride spent her ministerial years as a teacher, first at the elementary school level at St. Joseph in Port Huron, Michigan, from 1940 to 1941 and then at St. Paul in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, from 1941 to 1943. 

In 1943, she began teaching at the high school level in Michigan, Illinois, Florida, and California. Her assignments included two schools sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters: St. Joseph Academy, then a boarding school, 1962 to 1968, and Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, where she spent her last years of teaching, from 1976 to 2007. She stayed at the Regina Dominican convent until 2010, when she came to the Dominican Life Center in Adrian.

“I enjoyed teaching,” Sister Marie Bride said. “We all had teaching in our blood.” Among her many fond memories were her years of teaching science at St. Joseph Academy. She recalls Sister Miriam Michael Stimson demonstrating experiments in physics at Siena Heights to her every Thursday night. “I would take them back to St. Joseph’s and do them with the students during the week and then I would go back the next Thursday for the next set.” 

Sister Marie Bride also took advantages of several opportunities to travel. She visited England, Ireland, and France on one trip with her sisters, Janet and Sister Mary Jean and, with Sister Francina Reuther, OP, enjoyed a six-week tour of Europe. She also spent three weeks in Rome visiting Sister Mary Jean, who at the time was serving at the headquarters of the Dominican Order in Santa Sabina, Rome.

Sister Marie Bride is grateful for the many blessings in her life, including her loving family, her superiors and the many Sisters who mentored her, and the opportunity to teach children for all her years of ministry. 

From left: Long-time friends Sisters Marie Bride Walsh, OP, and Marion O’Connor, OP. Sister Rosemary Asaro, OP, displays the Apostolic Blessing bestowed by Pope Francis on Sister Marie Bride Walsh, OP. Sister Carol Fleming, OP, ministered with Sister Marie Bride Walsh, OP, at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Illinois.