Sister Loretta Francis Demick
1921-2011

Looking back on her eighty-nine years, Sister Loretta Francis wrote, “I know I have been truly blessed. I give praise and thanks to Almighty God. . . . I will always be grateful to my parents, sisters and brothers, and my Dominican Family, who gave me their love and support.”

On July 28, 1921, Mary Louise, the future Sister Loretta Francis, was born to Loretta (Theisen) and Frank Demick. Mary Louise was the oldest of the twelve Demick children, and was followed into the family by eight brothers and three sisters: Thomas, Leo, Margaret, Theresa, Irene, Charles, Francis, Louis, James, David, and Joseph. Three of Sister Loretta Francis’s brothers predeceased her: Leo, Charles, and Louis.

Sister wrote a bit about her background. Her father’s grandparents, John and Elizabeth (Suitelette) Dhimig, later Demick, were both from Bavaria. Her mother’s grandparents, Peter Joseph and Mary Elizabeth (Diederick) Theisen were from Greenfield (now Dearborn), Michigan, and were of German ancestry. Sometime after the death of his wife, Peter Deisen married his wife’s sister Louise. Frank Demick’s large family cherished the heritage left to them by their forebears.

At the time of their marriage the Demicks lived in Detroit. In 1927, when Mary Louise was six years old, the family moved to a large farm in New Baltimore, Michigan, and Mary Louise began her schooling at St. Mary School with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. “Sometimes we had to walk the mile and a half home from school.” She wrote that her parents supplied the sisters with vegetables and eggs, which the sisters appreciated very much, since they were living through the Great Depression years. “I still marvel how my mother managed to feed and clothe us. Our being on the farm was a big help.”

When she was about eight years old, Mary Louise was badly scalded with hot water and doctors did not expect her to live. Her parents, who had relatives in the religious life, promised the Blessed Mother that if she lived, they would allow her to be a religious. They did not forget this promise, and when, in her junior year of high school, she began making plans to enter the Adrian Congregation, they did not stand in her way. Leaving home was a hard decision for her to make, since she was the oldest of the ten children who formed the family at that time. Her mother, however, encouraged her, and reminded her that there were three other girls in the family who could help. The last two children in the family were born after she left.

She entered the Congregation on January 6, 1939, and during her postulate finished her senior year of high school at St. Joseph Academy. In this way, she spared her family all the expenses of graduation. She was received into the novitiate on August 2, and she professed her first vows on August 7, 1940.

Her first assignment sent her to St. Clare of Montefalco in Chicago, where for nine years she taught all the grades from two to six. During summer 1949, as a result of summer study at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian, she received a bachelor’s degree with a major in history and minors in English and Spanish. In the fall of that year she returned to Detroit, where she taught junior high students at Holy Name School. She was happy to be nearer to her family home, since her father was not well at this time. Her assignment for 1952 was in Ohio, as a second grade teacher at St. Dominic School in Shaker Heights. She wrote, “This was quite an adventure, since I was one of the four who helped open the new school. I also had church work.”

From that time on, all of her assignments were in Michigan. In 1954 she was again in Detroit as junior high teacher at St. Jude School. This entailed a great deal of work. The two eighth grade classrooms, separated by a folding partition, were also used for Sunday Mass. On Friday night the partition had to be opened and all of the student desks moved into the hall. Then on Monday all of the desks had to be moved back, and the area again became two classrooms. Shortly before she received a new assignment, construction of the new church began.

In 1956 she began her six-year ministry at St. Stephen in Saginaw, again teaching on the junior high level. During her time there, in summer 1959, John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, awarded her a master’s degree in history. In 1961 her father died. He was hospitalized for some time, and she was able to visit him on a few weekends. She wrote:

My mother and brother Jim, who was home on emergency leave from Korea, were with him. Because of icy roads, I arrived too late. My brother Louis, who was Brother Myron, MM, in Taiwan, was not able to come home.

She received a surprise in 1962, when she was appointed superior and principal at Precious Blood School in Detroit. After six successful years in administration and an enjoyable trip to California during the summer, in 1968 she was again assigned as a principal, this time of the elementary division of Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington. The high school division closed in 1971, and the junior high grades moved to the former high school building, which was then known as Thomas P. Beahan Junior High School. Monsignor Beahan had founded the high school, and he was saddened by its closing. She wrote that he very much appreciated all that she did in helping to find sisters to staff the new junior high and the enlarged grade school.

In 1974 she had been in teaching and administration for thirty-four years, and was ready for a change in ministry. There was an opening in parish ministry at her home parish, St. Mary in New Baltimore. She decided to accept this ministry. This would bring her close to her mother, who was in ill health and living alone, and to her brother Leo, who was also ill.

During the summers she had taken trips to Fatima, Montreal, Quebec, and Washington, DC; and in summer 1986 she took a trip to the Holy Land and Rome. Upon return she underwent a period of sorrow when her brother died in October. Her mother had to be transferred to a nursing home, and died there in December 1989. While serving at the parish, Sister lived on the second floor of their family home, and cared for them as long as possible. She wrote, “It was good to help both my mother and brother when they were disabled.” Her service at St. Mary Parish consisted of a year as parish minister, two years as administrator of religious education, and a return to parish ministry for nineteen years—totaling twenty-two years.

She retired in 1996 but continued living in New Baltimore. In previous years, she had spent time during the summers in Florida, Seattle, the Canadian Rockies, Massachusetts, and at family cottages in Northern Michigan. Her traveling days had to be curtailed, however, when in 2001 both knee replacements were necessary, followed by four hip surgeries.

In 2005 Sister returned to Adrian, where she resided in the Dominican Life Center/Maria. God took her to eternity six years later, on March 27, 2011. It is interesting to note that she is survived by two living cousins who are Adrian Dominicans, Sisters Jean Horger and Mary I. Assenmacher. Seven Adrian Dominican cousins preceded her in death: Sisters Albertina Horger, Mary Georgita Horger, Ann Lawrence Theisen, Evangeline Theisen, Evangelita (Mary) Theisen, Lambertine Theisen, and Mary Michael Theisen.

A wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Loretta Francis on March 30 in St. Catherine Chapel. Sister Jo Gaugier, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, extended sympathy and welcomed the relatives and friends who had assembled to bid her farewell. These included her surviving brothers and sisters and some of their families: Thomas, Margaret, Theresa, Irene, Francis, James, David, and Joseph. Sister Jo summarized Sister Loretta Francis’s life and ministry, and invited to the podium those who wished to share remembrances.

Marilyn Glanert, an Adrian Dominican Associate and dear friend of Sister Loretta Francis, spoke in praise:

Our journey together began sometime around the spring of 1993. Sister Loretta was ministering at my home parish, St. Mary in New Baltimore. . . . She was the head of Christian Service and was the pioneer in starting our food pantry, St. Vincent de Paul, Nursing Ministry, and home visits to the sick.

On one of our many trips together, Sister made me aware of the Associate Program, and she became not only my mentor but also my dear friend. . . . She was one of the most spiritual and gracious women I have ever had the honor of knowing. . . . Through my mentoring process she made sure I was introduced to as many Adrian Dominican Sisters as possible. In 1996 I was received as an Associate with Sister Loretta at my side and joined her Mission Group. In that same year she retired . . . and took it upon herself to become a beacon of love and hope to the residents in her Senior Building where she resided in New Baltimore.

In 2001 I moved to Florida, but we maintained a long-distance relationship. . . .Loretta moved to Adrian, hence my visits here. . . . On Monday, March 21, she called me in Florida to say goodbye. . . . I spent Sister’s final days with her. We had beautiful conversations and I will always hold them close to my heart for the rest of my life. It was an honor and privilege to be with her when she entered into her eternal home.

Irene Claus, Sister Loretta Francis’s sister, said in part:

I want to speak for the family. Her life was special. She was a nun from the beginning. She loved teaching, and she was happy wherever she was assigned.

I was only seven years old when she went to the convent. I didn’t know her and didn’t understand what she was doing. Since then, we’ve drawn very close and kept in contact. When I was a teenager I was always afraid to write very much because she was an English teacher and I was afraid of making mistakes in spelling or grammar. She said that she didn’t care. Through the years we always went to see her—my husband, children, and I—everywhere that she was teaching. We’d usually take my parents with us, so that they got to see her fairly often. They enjoyed that very much.

She spoke of how, on her wedding day, the entire wedding party went to see Sister, the girls in their long dresses and the men in their tuxedos. “But she was worth it! She has been the glue in our family, and we all looked up to her.”

She also spoke of the last time she saw Sister, which was the day before she died. She had to leave because there was a wedding shower for her daughter. When she said goodbye, she was afraid it would be the last time, and she was right.

Mary McGee, Sister’s niece, read a poem entitled “What Will Matter.” Selected lines are:

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Mary felt that this poem described the kind of person that her aunt was.

Sister Loretta Francis’s funeral liturgy was celebrated on March 31. Father Robert Kelly, OP, Motherhouse Chaplain, was the presider. Fathers Nick Zulkowski, pastor of St. Mary in New Baltimore, and Steve Koehler, pastor of St. Rene in Sterling Heights, concelebrated. Father Zulkowski was the homilist. Father said in part:

Almost fifteen years ago, on April 28, 1996, St. Mary Queen of Creation Parish in New Baltimore celebrated an appreciation dinner and tribute to Sister Loretta Francis Demick for her twenty-two years of ministry and service. When it was time for the Woman of the Hour to share a few remarks, Sister Loretta thanked everyone for being there and said, “You know, it’s always better to hear your canonization BEFORE you die, like I just did!”

We kept in touch rather infrequently when she moved here from New Baltimore in 2005 with the occasional phone call, birthday card, or Christmas greeting. What a blessing it was for me to speak with her by phone a month and then a week before she passed away. . . .

What did Sister Loretta do for Christ? She taught hundreds of children. She visited scores of sick and dying people. She made welcome those who were outcast. She collected clothing for the naked and food for the hungry. She started “Sister Loretta’s Closet,” which began literally as a closet and is now the second largest food depot in Macomb County. Her name is on a brass plaque to mark her contribution. She brought the Parish Nursing Network to New Baltimore to insure that the homebound would be visited. She was Christ for anyone who sought Him and needed Him.

Father ended his homily with a prayer that began, “We give her back to You, O Lord, Who first gave her to us. As you did not lose her in the giving, so we do not lose her in the return.” All those who loved Sister Loretta Francis can echo those words, and find comfort in them.