(1955 - 2025)

Associate Gerene Starratt, known as Gerry, died on June 29, 2025, at home in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the age of 70 following a brief battle with cancer.

Gerry was born on April 6, 1955, in Dolton, Illinois, to Chris and Dolores Konow. She was the couple’s first child, followed 13 months later by a brother, Chris.

Her father was a veteran of the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Much of his enlistment was spent aboard the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge as an ordnanceman, a job which included having to clear the deck of the bombs that occasionally fell off the fighter planes as they landed. Gerry wrote in her autobiography, “His job was to run onto the deck, pick up the bomb, unscrew the detonator, and throw it overboard.”

When he came home from Korea, he got a job with Illinois Bell and would remain with the various iterations of the phone company for the rest of his working life. Dolores was a stay-at-home mom when the couple’s children were young, later working as an elementary school secretary and then establishing a small bookkeeping business.

After the legendary January 1967 blizzard that unexpectedly dumped almost two feet of snow on the Chicago area in 29 hours’ time, Chris and Dolores became determined never to spend another winter in the snow and moved the family to Florida, where they settled in Fort Pierce.

It was there that, a few years later, Gerry met the man who became her best friend and the love of her life, Christopher, or Kit as he is better known. The couple married in 1974 and went on to have three children, sons Lane and Ian and daughter Valerie.

Kit’s connection to the Adrian Dominicans began in kindergarten at St. Anastasia School in Fort Pierce and continued throughout elementary school and all the way through his years at John Carroll High School. His family was active in St. Anastasia Parish and, when Gerry and Kit first began dating, Mass there was her introduction to the Catholic faith. She had been baptized in the Holland Reformed Church, which her family attended regularly in Chicago, but once they moved to Florida, they did not become affiliated with a church although Gerry went to various churches with friends as the opportunity presented itself.

The first time she attended Mass with Kit, however, “it felt like I had come home,” she wrote in her autobiography. The couple were married at St. Anastasia, and she was confirmed in the faith when their first child was baptized. Both her parents later became Catholic as well.

Gerry and Kit moved to several locations around the U.S. over the years for education and employment. One of their stops was Pittsburgh, where Gerry began her college studies in earnest. She had completed a year at community college after high school, but then marriage, work, and motherhood became her focus for several years. Then, with Kit as her role model, she enrolled at Chatham College (now Chatham University) and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Later, she received her Ph.D. in experimental cognitive psychology at Florida Atlantic University.

Kit became a member of the psychology faculty at Barry College (now Barry University) in 1993, and Gerry joined him there in 2000. She left in 2005 to become an education researcher for the Broward County Public Schools. She returned to Barry in 2011 to teach education research in the Adrian Dominican School of Education and remained there until her retirement.

Being at Barry brought the couple back into contact with the Adrian Dominicans, and in 2016 they both became Associates. 

Gerry was very involved in Associate Life. She also lived out her commitment to the Congregation’s Enactments in many ways, including assisting with Barry’s environmental stewardship efforts and accompanying Barry students to Adrian for the annual Environmental Leadership Experience program. 

She wrote in her autobiography that she viewed her role at Barry as a ministry, because her work helped equip future education researchers to address the problems in U.S. education that often result from inequity, and because, as a first-generation college student herself, she could help young people in that situation overcome obstacles.

In her and Kit’s parish, St. Jerome in Fort Lauderdale, she played a very active role, singing in the Chancel Choir (along with Kit); being part of the Women’s Emmaus ministry, including as a retreat leader; and at one time serving as president of the Home and School Association and as secretary and then president of the School Advisory Board.

Gerry retired from Barry in 2020 but continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member and remained involved with life at the university for as long as she could.

Barry’s statement upon her death included these words:

Dr. Starratt was known for her intellect, grace, and genuine care for the growth and development of her students and colleagues alike.

Dr. Starratt shared a life of service in education and faith with her husband, Dr. Christopher “Kit” Starratt, who also served the Barry University community and retired after 27 years of dedicated leadership. Together, Drs. Gerry and Kit Starratt were Adrian Dominican Associates, a reflection of their deep alignment with the mission and values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Barry University.

… Her contributions will remain a lasting part of Barry’s history and spirit.

 

(1934-2025)

Des Moines, Iowa, was the birthplace and childhood home of Joanne Marie Wimmer, who came into the world at Mercy Hospital there on October 15, 1934. She was the oldest child of James and Alice (Malone) Wimmer, arriving four years before James Michael and twelve years before Susan Kay.

James was a native of Tekameh, Nebraska, while Alice was from Des Moines. At the time Joanne was born, James was working as a barber; later, he became a mail carrier and, at least by the time Joanne entered the Congregation, Alice worked for the telephone company as a clerk.

“My childhood memories are defined by the places we lived,” Sister Joanne said in her life story. Until she was five years old, the family lived on an acre of land south of the Des Moines airport, and “I had much attention there, including my own playhouse.” When it was time for her to go to school, however, Alice decided that they should move to a place where she could send Joanne to school with neighbors. “The country roads seemed too much for her child!” Sister Joanne said.

And so, they moved into town to a home within walking distance of Holy Trinity School, where Joanne attended kindergarten (and got chicken pox, which she shared with her brother). But the house was expensive to heat, and before the next winter, the family moved again, this time to an apartment within a house. Because the basement steps came up into their kitchen, they were responsible for keeping the furnace running in the winter months – a fact which was to become the reason they moved again in a couple years’ time.

Read more about Sister Joanne (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Joanne's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Joanne's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.

(1934-2025)

Although she was baptized as Theresa Patricia, the Kubiak family always called their youngest child Janet, and a legal name change as an adult made it official.

Janet was born in Detroit on October 23, 1934, to Frank and Clara (Fitch) Kubiak, the last of nine children born to the couple. Her five brothers and three sisters were George, Stanley, John, Frank, Thomas, Marion, Cecilia, and Verna.

Frank made headlines in the Detroit Free Press and other newspapers in 1942 thanks to a miraculous restoration of his eyesight. In 1913, an accidental shotgun blast to the face left him blind in his right eye. Then, several months before Janet’s birth, while at his job at the Briggs Manufacturing plant in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park, shards of steel pierced his left eye and blinded it as well despite multiple surgeries to try and save his sight.

But then, in May 1942, his son John was guiding him home from church and the pair were crossing the street when a car approached. John pulled his father toward the curb and Frank tripped, landing on his hands and knees – and suddenly could see dimly with his left eye. Over the next few days, vision in that eye continued to improve … and he could finally see his youngest child for the first time. The only explanation doctors could give was that perhaps the fall had jarred a piece of steel loose or had released pressure on the optic nerve.

The family lived right by Holy Name Church, on Detroit’s east side, and Janet attended the parish school, which was staffed by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. “I would often walk to and from school with one of the Sisters as they walked by our house (going to or from the convent),” she wrote in her autobiography. 

Read more about Sister Janet (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Janet's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Janet's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.

(1937-2025)

Joseph Martin and Magdalene Woerner, Sister Patricia Martin’s paternal grandparents, were both born in Germany, came to the United States a year apart, and found themselves in north-central West Virginia, where they met and married. The couple went on to have fifteen children, one of whom was Sister Patricia’s father, John.

John served in the U.S. Army during World War I and was sent to France just before the armistice was signed. When he returned home, he went to Detroit to live with his sister and brother-in-law and found work in the automotive industry.

In the summers when the plant was shut down for model changeover, he would travel back to West Virginia to visit his family, and during one of those trips, apparently through mutual friends, he met a vivacious young telephone operator named Louise Hartung, who lived in Cumberland, Maryland.

The couple were married in 1926 in Cumberland and made their home in Detroit, where Edward, Patricia, Rose, John, Barbara, Dolores, and Martha all came into the family. Patricia was born on April 4, 1929.

Patricia’s first-grade education came thanks to the Adrian Dominican Sisters at St. Brigid School in Detroit. When she was ready to start second grade, with John’s factory job no longer enough to support the family, her parents decided that since John had been raised on a farm they wanted to find someone with a farm who wanted to trade that farm for their home.

Read more about Sister Patricia (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

 

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Patricia's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Patricia's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.