SISTER ESTHER SITZMANN
1919-2007

The Sitzmanns gave nine of their children to the service of the Church: three daughters to the Servite Sisters, two daughters and two sons to the Benedictines, and two daughters to the Adrian Dominicans, Sisters Esther and Gertrude. The parents were honored several times by Pope John XXIII. At a ceremony in Houston, Texas, where both were honored and George Sitzmann was knighted, Sisters Esther and Gertrude represented the family.

Sister Esther Sitzmann, known until the 1970s as Sister Marie Jerome, cherished her vocation. She said in an interview, “I think that the Adrian Dominicans are a congregation of gifted people, and I feel it a privilege to be numbered among them.”

The daughter of Mary (Carel) and George Sitzmann, Sister Esther was born on September 20, 1919, in Kingsley, Iowa. Both parents were native Iowans, both from the Hinton area, and they lived on farms about a mile apart. Preceded by the Dakota Indians from the Great Lakes region, George Sitzmann’s ancestors were among the first Caucasian people who had settled in that area.

Both Mary Carel and George Sitzmann attended the same rural school. Sister Esther said that when they married “my grandfather gave them money to buy a farm, and they settled on it.” They parented thirteen children: Dorothy, Helen, Marian, Donald (who lived only thirteen days), Gertrude, Esther Elizabeth (given the middle name “Elizabeth” for an aunt who had recently died), Georgene, Eunice, Vivian (died at two years of age), Ruth, Marlys, Jerome, and Robert. Sister Esther reminisced, “My parents were outstanding. They were so loving to each of us. They lived their Faith, and were grateful for the wonderful family that God gave them.”

There were few Catholics in the area, and there was some feeling against Catholics. As a result, when George Sitzmann ran for Director of Education, he was not elected. Sister Esther said, “When my brothers and sisters grew up, some of them married and had large families. Then the area became quite Catholic.” George and Mary Sitzmann were very active in the Catholic parish, however. Their home life was faith-filled, the priest was invited to dinner frequently, and the family said the Rosary together often.

The Sitzmann youngsters attended a rural public school about a mile from their home, one with many grades taught by one teacher. While the children in other grades were reciting, Esther listened. As a result, she skipped second grade. She began high school at Mount St. Mary Academy in Cherokee, Iowa, with the Servite Sisters, and finished at St. Angela Academy in Carroll, Iowa. Three of her older sisters (Dorothy, Eileen, and Marian) had become Servite Sisters. Esther was also beginning to think of entering the service of the Church, but not as a Servite. In her interview she said, “For some reason, I felt a call to be a Dominican, although I had never met one.”

In 1936, while she was looking through the Sacred Heart Messenger, an advertisement for St. Joseph College in Adrian, Michigan, conducted by Dominican Sisters, attracted her attention. She wrote to Mother Gerald Barry for acceptance into the postulate at Adrian. Her parents were not happy with her decision since Adrian was so far away. But they accompanied her on a three-day trip to Adrian, and stopped in Detroit to visit their Servite daughters. Sister Esther said, “My mother packed lunches for us, and we all shared a motel room. I slept on the floor.”

She arrived in Adrian on September 25, 1936, five days after her seventeenth birthday, and spent ten months as a postulant. With her group, she received the habit and her religious name (Sister Marie Jerome, a name taken for one of her priest-brothers) on August 23, 1937, and professed her first vows on August 24, 1938.

Sister Esther spent all of her teaching ministry in Midwest schools. The first sixteen years were with primary children. Within a short time of profession she was in a car headed for Detroit and taught for eight years at Visitation School. In her interview, she said:

One day I was sitting with the little children on the chairs for reading. All of a sudden I heard “Sister.” I turned around and said, “Yes?” This little girl came up and touched my cheek. She said, “Sister, I love you.” She kissed me on the cheek and went back to her place. That’s the beauty of teaching first grade. How simple and loving the children are!

During her third year at Visitation, Sister Esther was delighted when her sister Gertrude entered the postulate at Adrian, and was known until the 1970s as Sister Robert Mary. Also, during those years, Sister Esther contracted scarlet fever, and was ill for a time.

When she was transferred in 1946, she taught for two years at St. Augustin in Des Moines, Iowa; four years at St. Rita in Chicago; and two years at St. Patrick in Joliet, Illinois. She told a humorous story about a program that the sisters at St. Augustin School put on for the parents on St. Patrick’s Day. Sister Esther’s class was supposed to come out singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and go into a dance routine. One of the boys was out of place, and instead of the dance a fight ensued. “The parents clapped and clapped. Here the kids were having a fight on the stage, but the parents thought it was part of the program, and that it was the best part. They talked about it for years afterward.”

She also mentioned a boy in one of her third grade classes who, because of a cleft palate, had trouble speaking and being understood. He had had little success in learning, and had been in three or four classrooms up to that time. His mother heard that Sister Esther was an excellent teacher, and requested that he be put in her class. By Christmas he was reading from a third grade book. Sister Esther said, “He was extremely bright, but neglected as a student.” On the weekends, she also taught methods classes to the other sisters.

In 1954 she was assigned to St. Gabriel High School in Detroit, where she taught English religion, and typewriting for three years. During that time, in July 1956, she lost her mother. She then returned to St. Augustin for a semester, and finished the year at Aquinas High School in Chicago, where she taught history for almost four years, with breaks for medical attention. Her father died in July 1958, and she contracted polio in September. She said:

This was the most devastating thing that happened in my life. I had brain damage in the memory, problem solving ability, and judgment. . . . I couldn’t remember anything. I’d get on the bus and get off at the wrong stop. I’d make myself walk—that was my therapy. In the 1970s, the medical world discovered that the brain could regenerate cells, so I had hope of getting my abilities back.

Her last years in high school were at St. Edward in Elgin, Illinois, where she taught history, reading, and clothing from 1962 to 1964, and put on a beautiful style show.

In 1964 she returned to the elementary level, and taught on the junior high level for six years in Illinois: two years each at St. Kilian in Chicago, St. Albert the Great in Oak Lawn, and St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Chicago.

The balance of her ministry was in Michigan. Her health was not good, and for a year she served at St. Joseph in Maybee as a tutor. She moved to Inkster, and took care of an elderly woman for a year. Then she began twelve years of office work: a few months each at several Detroit offices and in the SEAC office, and ten years as a secretary for the City of Detroit. At the wake, Sister Lucy Ann Quinn said:

When Sister worked for the Gas Company, she answered the phone calls of people calling to ask for help in preparing food or ideas for food for special dinners. It was a service of the Gas Company at that time.

In December 1984, sixty-five years of age, Sister Esther retired and lived in a private Detroit residence for almost three years, then for a few months at St. Lucy Convent in St. Clair Shores, at a private  Birmingham residence, and she finally settled for seven years in a private Royal Oak residence. During these years, she volunteered her services.

She returned to Adrian in 1995, and lived in Regina Residence for almost two years. Wanting to see more of the country than the Midwest, she traveled to California and lived at Villa Serra in Salinas for about six months. It may be that the climate did not agree with her, for she returned to Adrian and moved into Weber Center for a year, then returned to Regina Residence for two years. In 2000 she moved into the Maria Building. Sister Gertrude returned to Adrian in 2002, and, although they did not live together, they saw each other frequently. Her death in February 2006 was a blow to Sister Esther. When God took Sister Esther to eternity a little over a year later, on June 1, 2007, she was almost eighty-seven years old and had been an Adrian Dominican for almost seventy years.

The wake-remembrance service for Sister Esther was held in St. Catherine Chapel on June 4. Several members of her family were present: her sisters, Sisters Rosalie and Faith, OSB, Ruth Morrisey, and Marlys Koopman; several nieces and nephews; and many Dominican friends. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, opened the service and extended sympathy. She summarized Sister Esther’s life and ministry, and added:

For several years she would dress up on the day that the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes delivered their millions—always in the hope that they would come to her and deliver millions to the Congregation. That was never to be.

Lisa Perrin, an Adrian Dominican Associate who works at the Dominican Life Center/Maria also spoke. She said in part:

I became acquainted with Sister Esther a number of years ago when she was still living in Regina. We shared numerous lunches together in the Madden Hall Dining Room, enjoying some good conversations in spite of her hearing limitations.

I quickly realized how intelligent she was, that her mind was quick and imaginative. It did not surprise me that she told me she’d essentially taught herself to read when her mother encouraged her to go pick out a book at home and see if she could read it.

Sister Esther’s desire to learn to read and her understanding of the importance of reading was apparent when she spoke about teaching. . . . She stressed that teaching the children to read was of utmost importance to her, noting that sometimes children were put in her classroom specifically because they were having a hard time learning to read and she had a gift for helping them.

Sister Lucy Ann Quinn also shared some remembrances. She was in Sister Esther’s second grade classroom at Visitation in Detroit, and made her First Communion at that time. She also remembered an episode from the latter 1960s.

Sister Esther was one of several sisters who were living alone. Since this was new to us, a convent adopted a sister to be a buddy to her. Our convent, St. Theresa, adopted Sister Esther. We would touch base with her often, take her to community meetings, and have her over for a visit. She was most appreciative of our support, and would have us over for a five-course gourmet dinner.

Sister Rosemary Abramovich, Director of the Dominican Life Center, shared memories.

Sister Esther and I have connections. We’re both from the great State of Iowa. When she was teaching at St. Augustin School I was a student there, although I was not in her class.

We lived together in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She was a fine cook and wonderful baker. How we loved her cinnamon rolls! I was quite thin then. Sister Esther . . . would say to me, “Someday you’re going to gain weight.” When I met her here in 1995, she reminded me of that.

For many years, she made great efforts to get money for the Congregation, a million dollars. For years, she tried by way of the Sweepstakes and the Publishers Clearing House. She had a strong belief that she was going to win. She would write and send them messages. . . . On Superbowl Sunday, when the winner would be visited and notified, she’d dress in her finest and have her hair done. She’d request that the photographer from Communications be in the lobby. And she waited in the lobby for the van and balloons. When she didn’t win, she’d say, “We’ll just wait for next year.” Obviously, though she tried for years, she never won.

Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist at Sister Esther’s funeral liturgy on June 5. Father said in part:

One of the most frequent comments that I’ve heard about Sister Esther is how generously she shared her gifts as a gourmet cook, as a teacher, and in so many other ways. She enriched the lives of many.

We had the final anointing in her room several days ago. I had been told that she was very ill and wouldn’t know what was going on. But she was very alert indeed, and her eyes followed all those who were praying for her.

Although Sister Esther did not win the lottery, she has now won the great prize, the prize that counts and the prize of which St. Paul spoke. She has won the prize, and is happy and at peace with her God.