Sister Anne Mary Kirwin
1910-2009
In the last years of her life, Sister Anne Mary Kirwin was familiar to the sisters who passed through the lobby of the Dominican Life Center/Maria. Seated there, she greeted everyone who passed her, pointing at them and saying, “I know you!” Then for some time, her presence was missed. But she had merely changed her site, now sitting in the third floor hallway outside her room, still greeting everyone who passed that way.
As well as being an Adrian Dominican Sister, she was a native of Adrian, and she loved the place of her birth. At the wake Sister Jo Gaugier, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, said:
Sister Anne Mary’s connection with the Adrian Congregation began long before she was born. She would recall that when Holy Rosary Chapel was being built [in 1886], both parishes in Adrian were asked for help to haul brick from downtown to the Academy. Her uncles, James and John Guire, farmers living in Palmyra, volunteered two teams of horses and wagons and helped to haul the brick for Holy Rosary Chapel.
Timothy and Margaret (Guire) Kirwin of Adrian rejoiced in the birth of a daughter on a summer day in 1910. Their daughter, baptized Mary Helen, the future Sister Anne Mary, was born to them on June 9 of that year. She was the youngest of their four children. Leo, Margaret, and Catherine were the other three. All of them preceded her in death. Sister Anne Mary wrote:
Leo died at the age of fourteen, following an illness of almost two years. Seven years later, Catherine, a sophomore at St. Joseph Academy, died of pneumonia at the age of fifteen. Margaret, my married sister, died at the age of forty-three. . . . Her husband, Paul Marvin, had died of a heart attack three years before.
In her autobiography, Sister Anne Mary wrote that her grandparents were all from Ireland. They left for America during the potato famine. The Kirwins left Galway and settled in Norwalk, Ohio, where their son Timothy was born, then later moved to Deerfield, Michigan, where he grew up. The Guires were from Limerick and Kilkenny. When they arrived in the States, they made their home in Palmyra, Michigan, and there their daughter Margaret was born and raised. Sister did not say how her parents met, but after their marriage they made their home in Adrian. She wrote:
Our home was a beautiful, Christian, Catholic one, with loving parents watching over us. The Rosary was recited in our home every evening. During October and May, my mother always added the Litany of the Blessed Mother.
The Kirwins were members of St. Mary Parish, and their children attended the parish elementary school. Mary Helen spent her high school years at St. Joseph Academy. This was a family tradition. Her mother’s sister, Mattie Guire, and her father’s cousin, Mayme Webb, were among the first boarders at the Academy, and in the first class that graduated in 1899. Several other relatives had also attended the Academy. Sister wrote that her high school years were enjoyable ones. It is interesting to note that all the classes were held in Madden Hall.
June 1928 must have been an exciting one for the Kirwins. Mary Helen was graduating from high school, and Margaret was being married. After graduation Mary Helen took Margaret’s place as an office worker for the Electrical Company, and held it for seven years. At that time she made the decision to enter the Dominican Congregation.
She was twenty-five years of age when she accepted the postulant’s veil on January 30, 1936. Reception of the habit and her religious name occurred on August 17 of that year, and she professed her first vows on August 23, 1937.
Within a short time she was on her way to Dearborn, Michigan, where she taught for two months in fifth grade at St. Alphonsus School. She spent the rest of that school year with third graders at St. Celestine in Elmwood Park, Illinois. At the end of that year she returned to Michigan for seventeen years. For the second time she was assigned to St. Alphonsus, where she taught for six years in third and fifth grades.
From that time on, all of her teaching was on the primary level: for two years at St. Gabriel in Detroit, four years at St. Mary in Royal Oak, and five years at St. Brigid in Detroit. In her autobiography she wrote that working with “God’s little ones” was enjoyable. “I love it!”
Sad occasions for her were the deaths of her sister Margaret and of her parents. Her mother died in August 1952 of tuberculosis, and her father in March 1953 of a stroke.
In June 1947, as a result of summer study at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian, Sister Anne Mary received a bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minors in French and history. During the summers after that, she taught catechism in various parishes, took census, did CYO work, and helped care for the sisters at Maria Health Care Center for five summers.
In 1955 she was assigned to Ascension in Harvey, Illinois. At the end of a year she was sent to Florida, where she taught for three years: a year at St. Jude in St. Petersburg and two years at Holy Family, also in St. Petersburg.
Beginning with 1959, her appointments kept her in Michigan. She taught for eight years at St. Ambrose in Detroit, for four years at St. Jude in Detroit, and for seven years at Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington. During the summers she taught catechism, worked in the Michigan Poverty Program, did some sewing at the Motherhouse, assisted at some convents, and took part in the Penafort Program.
In 1978 she left the classroom. The sisters at St. John Seminary in Plymouth were in need of help, and they asked her to join their community. She did so, and was with them for a year. At the end of that time the convent was closed. She then returned to St. Jude and served as a tutor for a year, then tutored for two years at Our Lady of Sorrows.
She went home to Adrian in 1982, lived in Regina Residence, and volunteered her services. She wrote, “I have been a teacher’s aide at St. Joseph Academy, my Alma Mater. . . . I hope to continue working here with the children as long as my health permits.” She actually worked with them for thirteen years, until 1995.
Her health made it necessary for her to move into the Dominican Life Center/Maria in 1999, and she remained there until her death on October 16, 2009, at the age of ninety-nine.
Sister Anne Mary’s wake-remembrance service took place on October 19 in St. Catherine Chapel. Sister’s cousin, Sister Mary Hemmen, OP, was present, as well as several of her nieces, nephews, and their families, and her many Dominican friends.
Sister Jo Gaugier welcomed all those present and extended sympathy. She summarized Sister Anne Mary’s life and ministry, and added:
In her later years Sister Anne Mary suffered a serious fall. She often told the story of how miraculous her survival was. She was transported to Bixby Hospital, and then to Toledo. No one expected her to live—but she did.
She was faithful to her prayer, and kind to her sisters and co-workers. She was always laughing, and had looked forward to celebrating her 100th birthday. She credited two things to her longevity: Peanut butter each morning on whole grain toast and the Adrian water. . . . She was proud to be the longest lived in her family. . . . She was so delighted when Father Art Kirwin, OP, was on campus at the Ashram, and even more so when he visited with her. Perhaps they’re related somewhere, way back!
During the past year, Sister experienced a decline in health. She had propelled herself around in a wheelchair, and talked almost non-stop. As she began to wind down, she needed more rest and her appetite was not as good as it had been. Her request to be in the lobby became a request to be in the hall near her room. She was very people-oriented, saying “hello” to everyone. Fortunately, she was confined in her room for only a short time, until, late last Friday, in the night, at the age of ninety-nine, Sister Anne Mary Kirwin died peacefully, having spent seventy-three years as an Adrian Dominican Sister.
Sister Rosemary Abramovich, Director of the Dominican Life Center, said:
Sister Anne Mary was a people person. She used to be at my door several times a week, and she commented on how beautiful the carpet was. She visited around a lot. She was born and raised in Adrian, and she was always looking for natives of Adrian. Our director of nursing was a native of Adrian, and she developed a beautiful relationship with Sister Anne Mary.
She was a happy person. She was always pointing at you and saying “I know you.” She would sit in the Maria lobby in her wheelchair and greet everyone with “I know you.” She was the queen of hospitality there in the lobby. When it got too much for her, she would sit in the middle of the third floor hallway and greet everyone.
Sister Elizabeth Kreiner also shared.
During the last day or two of Sister’s life, I have been visiting her. I would pray, but there was no response. She was sleeping. The last time I went in, I prayed in her ear, asking God for peace for her. She opened her eyes and looked at me as if to say “Thank you”.
Rita Townsend, Sister Anne Mary’s niece, spoke for the family.
I want to thank all of you sisters and staff for taking such good care of my aunt.
Aunt Mary was from a family of four and she lost all of her siblings at early ages. She herself lived to be ninety-nine. That says something about being a nun. She had a full and fulfilling life. My grandparents died at eighty-two and eighty-three. We thought that was old, but she outdid them.
She was an Adrian girl. . . . She would go past the house where she grew up, and a few years ago she stopped there and went through the whole house. The people who lived there let her go through and take pictures.
She visited my sister and me frequently. She came to our house and spent time with us. Jane and I were the closest, and every chance we had we’d come and get her for a visit. She liked to go through old pictures and reminisce.
She was part of our family. We loved her. She was a joy to be with. She prayed for us. We enjoyed having her in our family.
Sister Mary Louise Gass also shared.
My sister Barbara and I always got the gesture and “I know you.” My mother was from Adrian, and Sister Anne Mary would say to us, “I knew your mother. I saw her walking past our house when she went to work.”
Sister Durstyne Farnan remembered:
A lot of years ago Sister Joan Mary and I were studying, and we stayed at the convent in Farmington with a group of sisters. Sister Anne Mary was one of them. We were in our twenties, and we were preparing to go overseas to Africa. There happened to be a woman in Farmington who knew the language of the people we were going to be working with. So we went and stayed at Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington and studied the language with her. The sisters couldn’t have been more hospitable to us.
Sister Anne Mary deserves a lot of credit for getting us started in Africa. I want to thank her for her love and support.
Sister Anne Mary’s funeral liturgy was celebrated on October 20. Father Robert Kelly, OP, was the presider and homilist. Father spoke of Sister Anne Mary as a woman who lived in the “now.”
She sat in the lobby and greeted people with the words, “I know you.” She did not say, “I remember you from the past” or “I will get to know you in the next couple of days.” She knew everyone now as a person, a human being, created and cherished by God.
At first, I was startled when, upon my early arrival in July, Sister Anne Mary greeted me with “I know you.” I thought to myself, “Has my resume and job application been passed around? Has this woman been checking out my previous assignments on the internet?” But then I was told that Sister Anne Mary knew everyone . . . from the presence of Jesus in her life.
As Sister Rosemary said, it is not difficult to imagine that when Sister Anne Mary entered eternity and met Our Lord, she saw the gesture and heard the words, “I know you!”