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(1935-2024)
Associate Carolyn Irene Jeziolkowski of Adrian died on August 23, 2024, at the age of 88.
Carolyn was born in Alpena, Michigan, on December 19, 1935. She was the fourth of five girls born to Sigmund and Bernice (Lewandowski) Jeziolkowski, following Jean Marie, Mary, and Genevieve and preceding Louise. Mary died at just three days old. Genevieve entered the Congregation in 1950. Jean Marie became a Felician Sister after her graduation from Felician Academy in Detroit and later, in 1973, transferred into the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Sigmund originally worked as a firefighter at the Alpena County Airport. When that fire station was closed and the county road commission took over the airport, his knowledge of the facility’s water and sewer systems led him to immediately be hired as a road commission employee. He held that job for the rest of his life.
Carolyn’s earliest education came at St. Mary School in Alpena. She first became acquainted with the Congregation as a freshman at St. Bernard High School before completing her education at Catholic Central High School in Alpena in 1953.
Over the ensuing years she worked for several phone companies, starting out as a telephone operator and over time serving as a work leader, instructor, assistant chief operator, chief operator, service observer and repair-department supervisor. Her early career was spent in Ann Arbor and then in Minneapolis.
When her father died in 1965, Carolyn returned to Alpena to be with her mother and got a job with the telephone company there. The company was beginning the process of putting in a dial-telephone system, but until they did, she and the other operators had to connect all calls manually by asking “What number please?” and completing the connection.
Once the new system was installed, Carolyn was offered a management position as chief operator of the office in Three Rivers, Michigan. Not wanting to leave her mother living alone in Alpena, she asked Bernice if she would consider moving to Three Rivers with her. The pair sold their home, made the move, and lived together in Three Rivers for the next 15 years until Bernice died in 1980.
Carolyn eventually retired and decided that she would spend her winters in California with Louise and Louise’s husband, Jerry. Jerry owned a small plumbing-parts business, and for about a year and a half Carolyn worked for him part-time when she was in California. Then, she retired for good, continuing to split her time between California and Adrian.
With her two sisters in the Congregation as her inspiration, Carolyn became an Associate in 2002 because she wished to develop her spirituality and be active in Congregational projects.
When she was in Adrian, she served the Congregation faithfully as a sacristan and Eucharistic minister; served for many years on the Jubilee Committee; and assisted Sister Genevieve, who coordinated the transportation department, with Sisters’ transportation needs. She was also an active member of her Mission Group and participated in Associate and Congregational activities for as long as she was able.
Being an Associate was deeply important to Carolyn. When she renewed her Agreement of Association in 2004, she wrote:
My association with the Adrian Dominican Sisters has been enriched in more ways than I will ever be able to fully express. The feeling of God’s presence within me as I go about my daily tasks, with family and friends, has made me feel more alive than I have ever felt in a long time. I pray daily that the true virtues of St. Dominic and Catherine can be seen in me in all that I do, as I see it in those that I meet each and every day.
Carolyn never married. At the time of her death, she was survived by Sister Genevieve and by nieces and nephews. Her ashes were interred in the Congregational cemetery next to Sister Jean Marie.
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221.
Recording of Carolyn's Memorial Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.
(1936-2024)
In her March 2017 “A Sister’s Story” video, Sister Annette Sinagra said that spending many years of her life ministering in the Dominican Republic had instilled advocacy for social justice “in my bones.” That commitment led her, over those years, to do everything from ensuring latrines were built for marginalized women in the Dominican Republic to taking on some of the world’s biggest corporations.
Annette Marie Sinagra was born June 9, 1936, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Nate and Grace (Zangra) Sinagra. Grace was a native of Washington, D.C., while Nate emigrated to the U.S. from Sicily. His given name was originally Natale, but he was teased for it at school because “Natale” is Italian for “Christmas,” and so when he grew up he went to court to have it legally changed.
The couple had three children: Theresann, the oldest; Annette; and Anthony. Annette’s first job was working in the independent grocery store that her father owned for fifty years; she recalled in her “Sister’s Story” video that as a child during World War II her task was to cut one-pound packages of butter into quarters because butter was rationed and people could only buy the smaller portions.
She attended public schools throughout her elementary and secondary years, graduating from Cleveland Heights High School in January 1955. She then enrolled at Siena Heights College (University) right away, for the spring semester. When she went home for the summer, she took classes at John Carroll University and then spent the 1955-1956 school year back at Siena Heights. Read more about Sister Annette (PDF)
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF) - Note Sister Annette requested not to have her photo on the card.
Recording of Sister Annette's Memorial Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Annette's Ritual of Remembrance - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1932-2024)
When I went to see Jodie a few weeks ago, I said, “Jodie, I know you asked me to preach at your funeral. Well, what do you want me to say?” She replied, “Read the Scriptures, in the ‘Message’ translation, and just say, ‘LOVE.’ Yeah, Love. Love. Love. That’s all.”
These words come near the end of Sister Nancy Murray’s funeral homily for Sister Joanne Screes, who spoke in her life story about her belief that goodness and love make up the “golden umbilical cord” that connects all of creation.
Joanne Elizabeth Screes, known to all as Jodie, was born on January 25, 1932, in Painesville, Ohio, to E. Russell and Margaret Valerie (Murphy) Screes. Jodie was the younger of two children, after a brother, William.
Read more about Sister Jodie (PDF)
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
Enjoy these videos with Sister Jodie
Recording of Sister Jodie's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Jodie's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
If someone in Miami in the late 1980s ever had a reason to interact with Chaplain Beth Butler of the Miami Police Department, he or she would likely have been surprised to discover that the trim woman in the blue police uniform was a nun.
But police work ran in the Butler family. Sister Beth’s father, Vincent, was in the Detroit Police Department for 25 years, and a cousin was a police officer as well. In a 2019 interview for a publication produced by Dominican Hospital, from which she had just retired, she said, “My father was a police officer. My mother was a saint. As I always say, when you put the two together, you get a Sister in criminal justice!”
Beth Ellen Butler, born on February 28, 1935, was the middle child of five born to Vincent and his wife, Margaret Cowhy Butler. She followed Robert and a sister, Donalda, and preceded two more brothers, Michael and Terry.
The family lived on Detroit’s west side, where Beth attended Coolidge Elementary School for her first six years of education and then went to Our Lady Gate of Heaven School for seventh and eighth grades. It was there that she met the Adrian Dominican Sisters and found herself drawn to “their spirit of joy, their excellent teaching,” and the fact that “they were always happy.”
Read more about Sister Beth Ellen
Enjoy this inspiring interview with Sister Beth Ellen
Recording of Sister Beth's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Beth's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance.
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