(1936-2024)

Sister Annette Marie Sinagra, formerly known as Sister Mary Grace, died on Monday, August 12, 2024, at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian. She was 88 years of age and in the 66th year of her religious profession in the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

Sister Annette Marie was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank and Grace (Zangra) Sinagra. She graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio; received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian; and earned a master’s degree in education from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.

Sister ministered for 15 years in elementary, secondary, and adult education in Santo Domingo and Las Matas, Dominican Republic; and Melbourne, Florida. From 1970 to 1981 she was involved in adult religious education and as a rural community organizer in La Vega and San Jose de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic. She worked for human rights in Detroit, Michigan, from 1981 to 1982.

Sister Annette returned to the Dominican Republic in 1982 and was an advocate for social justice in Higuey and Santo Domingo until 1988. The following year she was an administrative assistant for the Adrian Dominican Congregation, representing the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) in Washington, D.C. From 1989 to 2009, she was the Coordinator of Corporate Responsibility for the PAB office and later served as a special project consultant to the Congregation, both in Adrian.

Sister Annette moved to the Dominican Life Center in 2016. She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Theresann Santoro. She is survived by a brother, Anthony “Tony” Sinagra (Lucy); other loving family members; and her Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Prayers of Committal will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, in the Congregation Cemetery. A Memorial Mass for Sister Annette Marie will be offered at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 in St. Catherine Chapel and a Ritual of Remembrance will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, in the Rose Room of the Dominican Life Center. 

Those not attending the Memorial Mass or Ritual of Remembrance in person are welcome to participate via live stream.

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) - Note Sister Annette requested not to have her photo on the card.

 

Memorial and Remembrance Recordings

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

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

 

Photo Middle: First Holy Communion, 1944. Photo Right: The Sinagra family, from left: Grace (mother), Annette Marie, Theresann (sister), Nate (father) and Tony (brother), 1942.

Photo Left: Sister Annette Marie teaches first grade at a school in Las Matas, May 1971. Photo Right: From left, Sister Annette Sinagra, her mother Grace Sinagra, and her sister Theresann Sinagra, circa 1954. 

Photo Left: Ministering in the Dominican Republic are, from left, Sisters Helen Faiver, Gladys Marie LeVack, Anne Liam Lees, and Annette Marie Sinagra. Photo Right: From left, Sisters Margaret Lane, Mary Pat Dewey, Annette Sinagra, and Luisa Campos.

Photo Left: Members of the Portfolio Advisory Board, August 1991, are: back row, from left, Sisters Frances Lombaer, Frances Nadolny, Maureen Fenlon, Juliann Flynn, Marion Coppe, and Carol Coston; middle row, from left, Sisters Corinne Florek, Attracta Kelly, Mary Katherine Dolan, Annette Sinagra, and Marion Goeddeke; and front row, from left, Sisters Patricia Reno, Judith Rimbey, Marie Michael, and Maureen Comer. Photo Right: At Oakwood House in Adrian, Christmas 1995.

Leading in the Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) Coke Divestiture Boycott on October 24, 1989, are, from left, Sisters Donna Markham, Eileen Hussey, Frances Nadolny, Patricia Siemen, Attracta Kelly, Nadine Foley, and Annette Sinagra. 

Members of the 2008 Golden Jubilee September-February Crowd are: standing, from left, Sisters Charlene Cote, Mary Rita McSweeney, Kathleen Clausen, and Marilyn Felice Barnett, and seated, from left, Sisters Attracta Kelly, Maria Odelia Romero, Annette Marie Sinagra, and Mary Katherine Dolan. Sister Iva Gregory is not pictured.  

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(1932-2024)

When I went to see Jodie a few weeks ago, I said, “Jodie, I know you asked me to preach at your funeral. Well, what do you want me to say?” She replied, “Read the Scriptures, in the ‘Message’ translation, and just say, ‘LOVE.’ Yeah, Love. Love. Love. That’s all.”

These words come near the end of Sister Nancy Murray’s funeral homily for Sister Joanne Screes, who spoke in her life story about her belief that goodness and love make up the “golden umbilical cord” that connects all of creation.

Joanne Elizabeth Screes, known to all as Jodie, was born on January 25, 1932, in Painesville, Ohio, to E. Russell and Margaret Valerie (Murphy) Screes. Jodie was the younger of two children, after a brother, William.

Read more about Sister Jodie (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. 

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

 

Enjoy these videos with Sister Jodie

 

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

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

 

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(1935-2024)

If someone in Miami in the late 1980s ever had a reason to interact with Chaplain Beth Butler of the Miami Police Department, he or she would likely have been surprised to discover that the trim woman in the blue police uniform was a nun.

But police work ran in the Butler family. Sister Beth’s father, Vincent, was in the Detroit Police Department for 25 years, and a cousin was a police officer as well. In a 2019 interview for a publication produced by Dominican Hospital, from which she had just retired, she said, “My father was a police officer. My mother was a saint. As I always say, when you put the two together, you get a Sister in criminal justice!”

Beth Ellen Butler, born on February 28, 1935, was the middle child of five born to Vincent and his wife, Margaret Cowhy Butler. She followed Robert and a sister, Donalda, and preceded two more brothers, Michael and Terry.

The family lived on Detroit’s west side, where Beth attended Coolidge Elementary School for her first six years of education and then went to Our Lady Gate of Heaven School for seventh and eighth grades. It was there that she met the Adrian Dominican Sisters and found herself drawn to “their spirit of joy, their excellent teaching,” and the fact that “they were always happy.”

Read more about Sister Beth Ellen

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. 

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Enjoy this inspiring interview with Sister Beth Ellen

 

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

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

 

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(1945-2024)

Our faith assures us that God is anxiously awaiting each of us, just as he awaited Dianne, as with outstretched arms she walked into God’s Holy Presence forever on May 29. As we heard … in the reading from Isaiah , she walked into the arms of the Holy One who had held her in the palm of his hand, even before she was born. God was always there. Holy Mystery had her back, in a way we don’t even pretend to understand, yet believe.

This paragraph was part of the funeral homily preached by Sister Susan Van Baalen for Sister Dianne Koszycki, echoing the image of a hand cradling a human figure that was used on the cover of the worship aid for the funeral.

Dianne Marie Koszycki was born on April 4, 1945, in Toledo, Ohio, to Francis and Helen (Wozniak) Koszycki. She was the youngest of the couple’s two children, coming into the family six years after her brother, Robert.

While she did not have a sister with whom to make childhood memories, she and her cousin Judy were especially close to each other. They were almost the same age, and although they lived in different states they spent almost every summer and many holidays together. “Needless to say, in our own way we created a lot of ‘good trouble’ for those charged with our care each summer,” Sister Dianne said in her life story.

Read more about Sister Dianne

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. 

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

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

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