(1927-2021)

John Coleman was born on November 22, 1934, in Detroit. The son of James Anthony and Susan (Wooton) Coleman, he was the youngest of five children. John’s parents were born and raised near Glasgow, Scotland, and immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. John said that he received a “strict Catholic upbringing.”

John spent two years in the U.S. Coast Guard and more than 40 years in the Coast Guard Reserves. He married Carol Salet in 1971. They would have celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. Their two grown children, Michael and Ellen, have families of their own. Sadly, Michael died several years ago.

Always active in the Catholic Church, John served as a Eucharistic Minister and brought Communion to the housebound from his parish, Divine Child, in Dearborn, Michigan.

After 30 years as a manufacturer’s consultant for Ford, John retired and the couple moved to Adrian. John became acquainted with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, attending events at Weber Center and Sunday liturgy and Peace Prayer at the Motherhouse.  

After studying with his mentor, Sister Rita Brunett, OP, John joined Associate Life on November 21, 2004. He faithfully attended many Associate events, including book club and Partners, as well as Mission Group meetings.  

John took his faith life seriously and followed the pathways of the Congregation, especially in learning to care for the Earth. He was a devoted recycler.
With his marvelous skill at making candy, John eventually put a professional kitchen in his home and made chocolate treats that were sold at the Weber Shop and as wedding favors and gifts. He specialized in homemade marshmallows, covering them with chocolate.  

John also devoted much of his time to social justice and Christian Service organizations, such as the Daily Bread soup kitchen, the Lenawee Conservation District, and the Humane Society. He was a generous, loving man who enjoyed a corny joke and brightened our lives.

The last few years were challenging as John suffered from diabetes and dementia. His devoted wife, Carol, took meticulous care of him. John died on April 13, 2021. May he rest in peace.

 

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(1939-2021)

In her six decades as an Adrian Dominican, Sister Mary Kay Moran’s ministries took her from big cities such as Detroit, San Francisco, and Chicago to the remote islands of southeastern Alaska.

Mary Catherine Moran, as she was baptized although she was always known as Mary Kay, was born in Toledo, Ohio, on May 25, 1939, to William and Mary (Heitkamp) Moran. She was the second of three children born to the couple, her siblings being Thomas and Barbara.

At some point very early in Mary Kay’s life the family moved to Detroit’s northwest side. William, a Toledo native, was a yardmaster for the New York Central Railroad, while Mary, who was born in the small unincorporated town of North Creek, Ohio, was a stay-at-home mother.

In her life story, Sister Mary Kay remembered her childhood as a very happy one. She attended kindergarten at Burt Elementary School and then was educated at Christ the King School and Our Lady of Mercy High School.

Although she began thinking about religious life as early as seventh grade, she was not especially attracted to either the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters who taught at Christ the King or to the Mercy Sisters of her high school years. And so, after graduating from high school in 1957 she went to work as a clerk at the J.L. Hudson Department Store.

Read more about Sister Mary Kay (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.

 

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(1929-2021)

When I think back over my life, my first thought is of gratitude to God for the “wonders God has done.” From my beginning in my mother’s womb, I have been richly blessed. My wonderful parents gave me both physical life and a firm faith in a God who is Love.

This was how Sister Virginia Pearson started her autobiography, a story which she concluded with gratitude to her family, friends, and the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds “for their essential gift of love and their many kindnesses,” and to the Dominican Sisters of Adrian for their “welcoming inclusion.”

Virginia Rose Pearson was born on August 3, 1929, to Albert and Clara (Haag) Pearson. Albert and Clara were both natives of Washington state who, when each was young, moved to Alaska – still a territory at the time – “in search of work and adventure.” They met and married in Fairbanks, where Virginia was born.

Her residence in Alaska was short-lived at that time, however, for when she was about three months old the little family moved to Seattle. Two brothers, Ted and Jack, followed within the next three years.

The summer before Virginia would have started second grade, the family moved to a section of Seattle known as Queen Anne Hill so that the children could attend St. Anne’s School, where they were taught by the Holy Names Sisters. But while these Sisters were fine teachers and examples of the faith, Virginia was more drawn to the Sisters who taught her in high school at Holy Angels Academy, “many of whom were true inspirations to me”: the Everett Dominicans, as they were known in those years before they moved to Edmonds in 1956.

Read more about Sister Virginia (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221.

 

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(1936-2021)

When Sister Mary Irene Walker and her longtime friend Sister Rosaire McAuliffe moved to the Dominican Life Center, one of the earliest campus projects Sister Mary Irene undertook was to plant the dahlia tubers she had brought with her.

Her love for the bright flowers which came to be so identified with her dated back many years to the time she went to the Washington State Fair. There, in the horticulture building, she was astounded at the rows upon rows of them on display there. Having never seen dahlias before, she had to ask what they were.

“That was it. I was hooked that very moment,” she said in her January 2016 “A Sister’s Story” video. And so, from that time on, every time she left one home to move to another, she brought dahlia tubers with her to every new residence including her last one, the Dominican Life Center.

Sister Mary Irene was born Janet Murray Walker on October 30, 1936, in Seattle to Glen and Irene (Spanbauer) Walker. Glen was a Washington State native, while Irene grew up in Schenectady, New York. The two met in Schenectady, which was the home of General Electric, due to a happy coincidence: Glen, an electrical engineer, would come to town for meetings during which the local college that Irene attended would hold dances for the students and the young engineers – and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Read more about Sister Mary Irene (pdf)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, Michigan, 49221. 

 

 

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