Sister Jean Kathleen Comiskey
1928-2011
Sister Anne Liam Lees, Prioress of the Florida Mission Chapter, sent a message to the wake that included these words:
Sister Jean Kathleen has left the Sisters of the Florida Chapter the legacy of loving faith in God, infused with her light-spirited attitude and delicate caring. Her goodness and patience were evidenced in so many ways, and we will be ever grateful to have shared faith and life with her.
Sister Jean Kathleen was the first child born to Paul and Catherine (Campbell) Comiskey of Chicago. She entered the family on March 12, 1928, was baptized Loretta Therese, and was followed by a brother, Robert Emmett, and later by a sister, Patricia Joan. Both parents were native Chicagoans. Paul Comiskey’s maternal ancestors came from the German part of Alsace Lorraine, and Catherine Campbell’s parents were from County Mayo, Ireland.
These were the years of the Great Depression, but the Comiskey children were unaware of the hardships. They and their cousins, who lived in the same area, had great times playing together. On holidays the whole family would get together for a delicious dinner at Grandma Campbell’s home. Loretta’s Grandma and Grandpa Comiskey also had a place in her life.
Loretta attended several grade schools. She began kindergarten at a public school, and then transferred to St. Dorothy School with the BVM Sisters. To this day she remembers her first grade year, sitting with arms folded behind her back when not doing school work, and never talking out of turn. She was sickly as a child, but became healthy at the cabin which her parents bought in Michiana, on the shores of Lake Michigan. There the Comiskeys spent their summers. The year she started school at St. Bride, 1936, her Grandma Campbell died and the family moved into the house where her mother had grown up, and lived with her mother’s sister. It was while living there that Loretta met the Adrian Dominicans. One of her friends had an aunt, Sister Rose Concepta Loftus, who was teaching at Aquinas High School, and the two of them would visit Sister frequently on Saturdays.
In 1937 Loretta’s mother became very ill, and medical bills accumulated. Again the children attended a public school, Bryn Mawr. In 1940 they registered at St. Philip Neri and Loretta graduated from eighth grade in 1942. Aquinas High School was next door to St. Philip Neri, and she spent her high school years there. “I loved my four years at Aquinas!” She wrote of the friendly, enthusiastic Dominican teachers that she met there. In those four years she felt herself drawn to the Adrian Congregation. During the years of World War II, she worked on Saturdays at her father’s gas and fuel oil wholesale company. Her job was to paste ration stamps in the books to account for every gallon of gas that was sold.
Upon graduation from Aquinas in June 1946, she was awarded a scholarship to Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian, and decided to take advantage of that. Soon she was making plans to enter the Congregation. These plans entailed entrance in February 1947, but her parents objected, so she decided to finish her freshman year.
On June 22, 1947, at the age of nineteen, she received the postulant’s veil. To her surprise, within a short time she was sent to Florida, where she taught kindergarten and assisted the primary teacher at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach. She returned to Adrian in December for reception of the habit and her religious name on December 30, and began the required Novitiate year. She wrote, “In spite of the many hardships and at times foolish things that we did, I feel blessed to have been a novice at this time in the Congregation’s history.” With her group, she professed her first vows on December 21, 1948.
By noon of that same day she was on her way to Detroit, where she taught fourth grade, then the primary grades at St. Scholastica until 1952. At that time she was sent to St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, Michigan, for a year, then spent a year at St. Henry in Cleveland, Ohio, both times with primary children. She wrote, “I always considered it a privilege to prepare these little ones.” She had been studying during the summers at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian, and in July 1954 received a bachelor’s degree with a major in biology and minors in chemistry and German.
In August 1954 she was assigned to live at Dominican High Convent and take census at St. Cecilia Parish. “It was a ministry that I considered myself definitely unsuited for.” The sister who had taken her place at St. Henry School was having a difficult time, so at Thanksgiving time Sister Jean Kathleen returned to St. Henry for the balance of that year. 1955 was her last year in elementary school, and she spent it with second and third graders at St. Francis Xavier in Medina, Ohio.
The year 1956 found her at St. Lawrence High School in Utica, Michigan, as a biology teacher. Four years later she was transferred to St. Mary High School in Royal Oak for five years, teaching science, art, and drafting, then in 1965 was assigned to Regina High School in Wilmette, Illinois, delighted to be close to her family. She wrote of these as happy years, but also difficult in adjusting to the changes in the church and in community life. She studied during the summers at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and in 1961 received a master’s degree with a major in zoology and minor in botany. During the summer of 1969 she and Sister Patricia Dillon, who had become a close friend, accompanied a group of students to Europe, a trip that she thoroughly enjoyed. Although reluctant to part with the habit, they found it easier to wear and care for secular clothes.
She wrote also of other trips that she was privileged to take. She made several trips to Ireland with her sister and friends. On one of these trips she met some of her relatives, and saw where her grandparents had been born. For her Jubilee year in 1997 she visited the Lands of Dominic, “an inspiring and memorable experience.”
In 1970 she began her life in Florida, where she remained for the rest of her teaching ministry. She spent the next twelve years at Barry College (now University) in Miami Shores, as a biology teacher. She lost parents in 1971, her mother in January, shortly after Christmas, and her father in April. She was asked to teach in the science department at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach in 1982, and did so for the next four years. Sister Patricia Dillon was also missioned there, and they became housemates. She returned to Barry in 1986 by request, accompanied by Sister Patricia, and taught in the science department for twelve more years. During those years the two lived in a house across from Barry. In 1998 she retired from teaching, and volunteered her services to Barry as an assistant in the archives, where she began to identify and organize sixty years of photographs and documents. Of her forty years in Florida, thirty-six of them had been at Barry University. During these years, also, she lost both of her siblings: her brother in 1999 and later, her sister. “I am the oldest of the children, and now I am the only one left!”
She and Sister Patricia returned to Adrian in May 2010, and shared an apartment in Regina Residence. Sister Jean Kathleen began a volunteer ministry in the Congregation archives, but soon became unwell, and God took her to eternity on June 29, 2011. She had attained the age of eighty-three.
A wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Jean Kathleen in St. Catherine Chapel on July 1. Sister Mary Ellen Youngblood, Prioress of Adrian Crossroads Mission Chapter, extended sympathy and welcomed the members of her family who were present, and the many Dominican friends who had come to bid her farewell. Sister summarized Sister Jean Kathleen’s life and ministry, and added:
Periodically she had not felt well . . . so after a visit to the doctor, she underwent a series of medical tests and a biopsy. I accompanied her to the doctor for the test results, and she was diagnosed with advanced cancer. She and those around her were shocked at that news. That appointment was on May 22, 2011. Jean moved to Maria for care, was soon receiving Hospice care, and died on June 29 after a short but intensive illness.
Sister Agnes Louise Stechschulte also spoke. She said in part:
I first met Sister Jean Kathleen at Catholic University at our House of Studies. . . . My next assignment with her was at Barry College. She was thirty-six years at Barry, out of the forty-three that I taught there.
She taught microbiology to biology majors, nursing majors, and students in podiatric medicine. She also taught genetics. In her last twelve years at Barry, she worked in the archives, where she used her artistic talents in preparing historical displays. Her talents went beyond the academic. She was a gourmet cook . . . was humble and unassuming. We loved her and will miss her.
Sister Marcine Klemm said in part:
We were postulants, young professed, and in science together, leaning on each other through all the courses we took together. Both of us started out together teaching grade school, in the lower grades. Then we went to college together. We were supposed to be sophisticated, but we were young and nervous. We did a lot of experiments, sometimes spoiled them, and had to do them over. She got me through the courses, and she was truly my friend.
Sister Patricia Dillon shared.
It has been my privilege to live with Sister Jean Kathleen for thirty-one years in different places—one year here at the Motherhouse, twenty-four years at Barry University, four years at Rosarian Academy, and also in community at Regina Dominican High School. It was there that we were asked to chaperone students on a European tour. We visited nine countries and were gone for thirty-two days. Those years of living with Sister Jean were treasures. I will sorely miss her!
Sister Marion O’Connor sent a message to the wake. Some selections from her message:
Our days began in high school at Aquinas. We were only a year apart in the Novitiate. We eventually spent time together at St. Theresa in Detroit. We worked diligently during the summers at Catholic University earning our master’s degrees. . . . After passing our comps, we enjoyed a splendid ride on the Potomac with other nuns through the graciousness of Sister Marcine and her brother. What memories we experienced of our trips to Ireland—1976 with my Dad, 1980 with her sister Joan and Sister George Thomas.
Cathie Trinen, Sister Jean Kathleen’s niece, represented the family.
On behalf of the Trinen family, I would like to thank all of the Adrian Sisters for their support, kindness, and gracious hospitality during this difficult time. Thank you all for being here to honor one who has achieved greatness, and to say “goodbye” to our Aunt Loretta.
Our Aunt Loretta was truly a woman of many interests and talents. She held several degrees, was an avid reader, a talented cook, a veteran traveler, and could knit a sweater or afghan that rivaled any sold in the Irish Store. She loved her Faith and her family, and honored her Irish heritage. . . . She handled her illness with stoicism and dignity, right up until the time that God came to take her. There was to be no complaining and no weeping. Again, a sterling example and inspiration to us all.
On July 2 Sister Jean Kathleen’s funeral liturgy was celebrated. Father Robert Kelly, OP, who is Motherhouse chaplain, was the presider and Sister Marcine Klemm was the homilist. Selected passages from her homily are:
When Sister Jean Kathleen entered the classroom, she spoke with authority and clarity. To her science was . . . about reverence, gratitude, and respect for the genius of the Creator. . . . She was also able to maintain a genuine love and companionship in religious life, a gracious sense of humor. Her skill in culinary arts was enjoyed over and over again as she fed the hungry. Her expressions of thoughtfulness and graciousness to all who entered her life were warm and sincere. . . . Love emanated from her being.
Sister Marcine expressed gratitude “for the love and life of this remarkable woman who has shared herself so generously with us in ever so many creative, warm, loving, and varied ways. She has touched our lives, and we are so much better because of that.” All who knew Sister Jean Kathleen agree.