Obituaries

 

In 1963, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that “Cornpickers clacked in the surrounding fields and gravel dust from nearby Edgewood Road hung in the air” in the place where LaSalle High School opened, replacing St. Patrick’s High School in Cedar Rapids. A year later, Sister Mary Charmaine arrived to teach chemistry. Last month Charmaine concluded her fifty years of ministry in Cedar Rapids when her dear, long-time friends Sister John Thomas Hackett and Sister Janine Wolff brought her to Marian Hall.

 

Her sixty-five years of dedicated service as a BVM was set in motion by Sister Mary Justitia Coffey when Charmaine was a sophomore at Mundelein College. In her letter to Mother Mary Josita requesting permission to enter, Charmaine said that Justitia had told her to write. Born in Blue Island, Ill., on November 25, 1925, Charmaine was the oldest daughter of William and Isabel Zehner LeMaire. She had a brother, William, and younger sister, Charmaine. Her French heritage was a source of great pride. This may have been the reason for her sense of fashion and her stylish hats. Charmaine was a graduate of St. Louis Academy, where she may have learned her great love for music. On September 8, 1945, she entered the congregation from St. Louis of France Parish, Chicago. During her retirement years, a reporter asked her where she wished to travel. She said she wanted to return to France because of its history and “the architecture of churches in northern France just makes me want to go there.”

 

After profession, Charmaine spent a short stint at St. Joseph in Rock Island before being assigned to teach at Holy Cross School in Chicago. When she moved from Holy Cross to St. Mary High School in Clinton, Iowa, I was a part of the group of temporary professed that she joined. Charmaine had so many suggestions for ways that we could all improve that we nicknamed her “The Little Boss from Holy Cross.” She took it in good humor but she continued with suggestions for our improvement.

 

Charmaine was an educator who strongly believed that the purpose of education was to develop the potential of every student. She was a no-nonsense teacher who had great expectations of her students and she inspired them to have great expectations of themselves. She was very proud of their achievements. When asked what she liked most about her occupation, Charmaine said, “I love teaching and I love the students.” After her years as a full-time teacher, she tutored in math and chemistry at Kirkwood Community College and volunteered in a head start program.  

 

Charmaine also had great expectations of herself. At St. Mary High School she revamped the school’s laboratories. She equipped the chemistry and physics labs when the new Chicago Cathedral High School was built. Charmaine won a National Science Foundation grant which enabled her to complete a master’s degree in chemistry at Notre Dame University. Later she earned a master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Loras College.

 

In her retirement years Charmaine began creating ceramic pieces. The 14-piece nativity set she made received the highest award at the Iowa Ceramics Association. At the same time, retirement gave her the opportunity to serve on local boards, especially the Linn County Coordinating Board for the Homeless. She was as dedicated to achieving success there as she was in achieving it in the classroom. Her passion and persistence were powerful threats to anyone opposing assistance to the homeless. Within the past year she won an award for “providing exemplary service and acting as an advocate for the low-income within the local communities.”

 

In today’s Gospel reading we hear, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Can’t you hear Charmaine telling God that she has a better way for separating all the nations than going to either the left or right? She would definitely suggest something other than the metaphor of the sheep and goats. And there would be no doubt in her mind that God would happily listen to her suggestions.

 

Charmaine said that her goal in life was “to be a joy-filled follower of Christ and to share that joy with others.” She claimed she could achieve that goal—“if I have a positive attitude, I will have a positive life.” Today we celebrate with her in the knowledge that Charmaine has received her final and greatest award—she has successfully achieved her goal.

“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith . . . so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

 

Once Kyran and two more of us were driving to the NCEA [National Catholic Education Association] conference on a wintry Easter Sunday, exultant with the Easter spirit. Amid sharing times and scenery viewing from Dubuque to St. Louis, we passed several farms with sheep grazing. Each sighting caused Kyran to be reflective. Sheep would forever symbolize goodness for her, she said, and told us happy memories of her early family life on a Wyoming sheep ranch.  

 

Kyran, baptized Margaret Theresa, began life with her Irish immigrant parents and family on their large ranch outside of Casper, Wyo. She was the third of six children born to Mary Agnes Dunegan and Cornelius, or Con, Shea on February 25, 1918. [We honor you, Kyran, on your 92^rd birthday.] Because her sister died at the age of two, Kyran was the only girl among all of her brothers. The youngest brother Patrick was born when their mother had cancer and she died soon after his birth. Months later, their father was murdered and everything changed for the orphaned children.

 

Kyran and her brother Con, who first met the BVMs when a new parish grade school opened in Casper in 1927, had gone to St. Anthony and then attended a boarding school in Alliance, Neb. Kyran returned to Casper for eighth grade and was a foster child in the Mulvaney family until she left Wyoming. Her guardian Aunt Margaret had too large a family to raise her niece and nephews but remained prominent in their lives. Infant Pat was adopted by the Meehans who lived close by. Kyran frequently got to be with him in his early years.

 

Kyran often credited the BVMs for expressing compassion and caring to the Shea children in their hard years of loss and adapting. She too expressed those qualities. As a teacher in Des Moines in the 1950s Kyran showed understanding to children who came from “broken” families. A few years ago when Kyran lived on Caritas 2, she and I were having a serious conversation. When a staff member came into the room with supplies, Kyran immediately focused on her and gave to her the chocolates I had brought. After the woman departed, Kyran stated that she and her children were struggling, and we resumed our conversation.

 

Just after her graduation from high school, Kyran learned that a sister at the grade school had died. She immediately felt a call to “replace” Sr. M. Kyearn Davin and began the process of applying to the congregation. She arrived at Mount Carmel on February 2, 1937, as the first postulant to enter from Casper. Through her BVM years, Kyran was proud to belong to her set of twelve. Many years later Kyran was featured in a vocation issue of the Wyoming Catholic paper. Talking about significant choices we make in life, she ended the article with: “I have never regretted the choice I made in 1937!”

 

From 1939 to 1970, Kyran served in parish schools as a teacher and principal who impacted her students and colleagues. Her first assignment was St. Philip in San Francisco, Calif. From there she went to Our Lady of Lourdes in Chicago, Ill. and then to St. John in Des Moines, Iowa, where she taught Carol Marie Baum and me. Next, St. Gertrude in Stockton, Calif. welcomed her as principal and teacher. After two years of teaching at St. Anthony in Missoula, Mont., Kyran was led back to Chicago as principal at St. Gertrude. In her term there the congregation experienced much change in community life and ministry. Then she moved to Seattle to be graduate student and junior high teacher for a year. She also opened the archdiocesan personnel office there. Following that, Kyran was the BVM personnel coordinator before returning to her Wyoming as the state director of Catholic schools and religious education programs for eight years. That time was special for Kyran as she had more contact with family.

 

Community life and mission were primary values for Kyran. She contributed generously to both. She lived in various-sized groups and in intercommunity, and found goodness and challenge in all settings. She kept in touch with friends in new ventures in places like Kumasi, Ghana, and supported individuals and groups making efforts to serve people in their many needs.

 

I knew Kyran’s faith and spirituality to be deep and inclusive. As a sixth grade teacher, she taught a God of love. Preparation for confirmation was interdisciplinary. For instance, we wrote an autobiography, with urging to integrate our story with personal signs of God’s love. We researched and shared stories about our saint, and created artistic symbols about the gifts of

the Holy Spirit. Twenty years later Kyran shared highlights of her thirty-day retreat.

Entering retirement, Kyran’s time of renewal at Kairos House of Prayer in Spokane, Wash. affirmed her role as a contemplative in action. Kyran appreciated her retirement years in California and in the Mount Carmel complex. She enjoyed preparing meals, doing craft work, having more time to visit, read and

listen to music. She reached out to serve in new ways. As pain and diminishment limited her, she prayed to balance acceptance with finding goodness as a patient receiving the best of care.

 

Now, Kyran, you are filled with the goodness and fullness of God.

 

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name: you are mine.” Isaiah I: 1-2.

 

Born March 14, 1929, in Racine, Wisconsin, Dolores Perry was the first of four children born to Albert Perry and Bertha Kuypers. Dolores attended St. Brendan’s grade school, Visitation High School and Mundelein College, all here in Chicago.

 

Dolores entered Mount Carmel September 8, 1949. She was received March 19, 1950, and received the name Mary Marlene. She professed first vows on March 19, 1952, and began her mission life in Boulder, Colorado. From there she went on to Butte, Montana; San Francisco, California; Omaha, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1976 she came to Chicago to share her talents with the students at Immaculata High School, Cathedral High School and St. Benedict High School. Dolores taught here at St. Gertrude from 1961–65. After a stellar teaching career, when she could have retired, Dolores became receptionist at Holy Name Cathedral, where she was known for her expertise and attention to detail.

 

On her application for admission to Mount Carmel she said that she wanted to better serve God and show her love for Him and to help herself and others merit salvation. She certainly worked hard to accomplish these things.

 

Four days after moving to Wright Hall in June of 2006 Dolores had a stroke which greatly impaired her speech. She demonstrated her tenacity in working very hard to restore her ability to speak. This won her the respect and admiration of all with whom she came in contact.

 

One word comes to mind when I think of Dolores and that’s loyalty. She was loyal to her God, her birth family, her BVM family and her many friends. This is evident in seeing so many present here today. Thank you for being here to give her a much-deserved fond farewell.

 

 

 “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” These words of St. John were an important part of Jeanelle Bergen's spirituality. In her notes she said,"Solid virtue is essentially the love of God for his own sake and the love of our neighbor for God's sake."

 

Jeanelle Bergen went to her loving God quietly, suddenly and alone. This was a fitting death for a very private person who never wanted the spotlight on herself. 

 

Jeanelle was baptized Loyola R. Bergen, the oldest of three daughters of John Vincent and Helen Rafter Bergen. Her sisters, Lorraine and Eileen, BVM (St. Genevieve) were very close to her. In one interview she mentioned a deceased brother who was the youngest of the family and two older children who died in infancy. Born in 1912, Loyola was a true Chicago native who spent not only her childhood, but her entire ministry, in Chicago. She attended Our Lady of Angels Grammar School and St. Mary's High School. While at St. Mary's, Jeanelle met Ann Ida Gannon, who attended The Immaculata. On one occasion, Jeanelle and Ann represented their respective schools in a debate. St. Mary's won! These two women entered the BVMs together in September 1932, made first vows in 1935, and final vows in 1940.

 

With the exception of her first five years at St Ferdinand's, one year at St. Dorothy's, and one year at The Immaculata, Jeanelle’s whole ministry was centered at Mundelein College. She was Chair of the Drama Department there and also taught speech, acting, directing and stagecraft. She directed many outstanding productions. When asked by Mary Alma Sullivan about her students, Jeanelle was pleased that many of them became teachers of drama. She said, "That was very gratifying because the most important thing to me was connecting and being a mentor to those I taught. Happily, I have stayed in touch with many of them through the years." This was an understatement. Jeanelle was dearly loved by her students and many remarked how greatly she influenced their lives.

 

Like any excellent teacher, she continued to study and learn.  This meant regular trips to New York to sample Broadway. In the summer of 1966, Jeanelle applied for and was hired by the NBC studios in Chicago. There, to the surprise of many, she worked in full religious habit. She got a firsthand look at the operations of a television studio. She wanted to learn what her students might encounter and prepare them for it.

 

Jeanelle was a tireless worker during her whole life. In 1965 she worked with Helen Thompson, BVM to bring about an Upward Bound Program for disadvantaged youth at Mundelein College.

 

Jeanelle retired from teaching in 1984. In her retirement years she served as Assistant Archivist at Mundelein/Loyola. She made many good and lasting friends there. She was invaluable in restoring Mundelein's archives, identifying old pictures and using the computer to update records. When she found it difficult to go to the building where the archives were located, work was sent to her at Wright Hall.

 

Some who lived with Jeanelle described her as one who liked to spend time alone in her room. Others saw her as outgoing and fun-loving, especially when with her sister Eileen. I knew her to be gracious and generous when asked to do something extra on the stage or when planning an event. She was kind and sensitive. Jeanelle, you spent your many years as a BVM tirelessly teaching, loving and helping others. Thank you.

 

In closing, let us again refer to the first letter of St. John. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and God's love is brought to perfection in us.

 

Good morning and welcome to those present, those watching on Channel 6 and especially those present who weathered the snow to be here.

 

We’ve come together to celebrate the resurrected life of two faith-filled BVM women, Helen Cecile Flynn and Mary Ellen Dolan.

 

Helen was the second daughter of Edward Flynn and Cecilia Murry Flynn, born in 1916 in Oklahoma City, Okla.  Her older sister, Pat, was her only sibling. Her father came from Garryowen, Iowa, as did many of Helen’s BVM aunts and cousins. Helen felt called to religious life at a very young age. Her desire was to be a nurse, not a teacher, so at age 16, she entered the Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis in Maryville, Mo. After becoming a registered nurse, Helen held several responsible positions at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City: Supervisor of Surgery and Orthopedics and Medical and Surgical Clinical Instructor.

 

After 40 years of nursing service, Helen left the St. Francis Sisters in 1972. She spent a year in the novitiate at Wright Hall and in 1973 she transferred her vows and became a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not surprising that she became a BVM since Helen had many aunts and cousins who were BVMs. Among them were Sr. Letitia Burke (community number 22), Mother Cecilia Daugherty, Sr. Columba Burke, two Sr. Dominica Burkes, Sr. Helena Burke, Sr. Davida Burke, Sr. Basilla Burke and last but not least, Sr. Mary Kay Dum.

 

After becoming a BVM, Helen continued to minister as a nurse at Michael Reese, Mt. Sinai and Lake Shore Hospitals in Chicago. She retired to St. Constance in 1984 and then moved to Wright Hall. Helen requested a move to Mount Carmel after a confirmation that she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. She wanted to be “familiar with the buildings and Sisters at Mount Carmel as her disease progressed.” Helen was quite realistic about her illness and was knowledgeable about its progression.

 

Mary Ellen Dolan was born in Rawlins, Wyo., the second child of Thomas Dolan and Florentine Keenan. She had one older brother, Thomas, and one younger, Leo. Leo lives in Utah and was not able to be with us today. Mary Ellen attended public school until her junior and senior years of high school, when she attended Mt. St. Gertrude Academy in Boulder, Colo. From the time she started attending the summer vacation school, when the Sisters came to teach, Mary Ellen knew she wanted to be a Sister. Her years at Mt. Gertrude Academy increased her desire for religious life. She entered the BVMs in September 1946.

 

Mary Ellen was a creative, challenging, dedicated and generous elementary school teacher for 20 years. She loved teaching, but truly fulfilled her dream when she studied, trained and taught sign language to deaf children for many years. Watching the joy on the little children’s faces when they could actually talk with their hands was, to quote Mary Ellen, “more joy than one person should be privileged to experience.” She received a ministry grant to spend time in India, which was another childhood dream. While there, she assisted with setting up a program for deaf children.

 

Mary Ellen was always a person ready to assist anyone with any need whether it was a ride, bringing communion or stopping by to pray and she always brought a treat, usually her own homemade cookies.

 

Helen and Mary Ellen both were BVM women of deep Faith, expressed differently out of their lived experiences. They were devoted to the Eucharist and the rosary. Both followed the call of Jesus in their healing ministries, one in nursing with the physically ill and one healing the sound barrier by teaching the communication skill of sign language.

 

Both women were waiting “for the place prepared for them in their Father’s house.” May we pray especially with them during the responsorial psalm today and feel their joy as we sing “My Soul rejoices in God, my Savior.” Their spirits have found the joy we all await in God, the living God.

 

Good morning and welcome to those present, those watching on Channel 6 and especially those present who weathered the snow to be here.

 

We’ve come together to celebrate the resurrected life of two faith-filled BVM women, Helen Cecile Flynn and Mary Ellen Dolan.

 

Helen was the second daughter of Edward Flynn and Cecilia Murry Flynn, born in 1916 in Oklahoma City, Okla.  Her older sister, Pat, was her only sibling. Her father came from Garryowen, Iowa, as did many of Helen’s BVM aunts and cousins. Helen felt called to religious life at a very young age. Her desire was to be a nurse, not a teacher, so at age 16, she entered the Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis in Maryville, Mo. After becoming a registered nurse, Helen held several responsible positions at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City: Supervisor of Surgery and Orthopedics and Medical and Surgical Clinical Instructor.

 

After 40 years of nursing service, Helen left the St. Francis Sisters in 1972. She spent a year in the novitiate at Wright Hall and in 1973 she transferred her vows and became a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not surprising that she became a BVM since Helen had many aunts and cousins who were BVMs. Among them were Sr. Letitia Burke (community number 22), Mother Cecilia Daugherty, Sr. Columba Burke, two Sr. Dominica Burkes, Sr. Helena Burke, Sr. Davida Burke, Sr. Basilla Burke and last but not least, Sr. Mary Kay Dum.

 

After becoming a BVM, Helen continued to minister as a nurse at Michael Reese, Mt. Sinai and Lake Shore Hospitals in Chicago. She retired to St. Constance in 1984 and then moved to Wright Hall. Helen requested a move to Mount Carmel after a confirmation that she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. She wanted to be “familiar with the buildings and Sisters at Mount Carmel as her disease progressed.” Helen was quite realistic about her illness and was knowledgeable about its progression.

 

Mary Ellen Dolan was born in Rawlins, Wyo., the second child of Thomas Dolan and Florentine Keenan. She had one older brother, Thomas, and one younger, Leo. Leo lives in Utah and was not able to be with us today. Mary Ellen attended public school until her junior and senior years of high school, when she attended Mt. St. Gertrude Academy in Boulder, Colo. From the time she started attending the summer vacation school, when the Sisters came to teach, Mary Ellen knew she wanted to be a Sister. Her years at Mt. Gertrude Academy increased her desire for religious life. She entered the BVMs in September 1946.

 

Mary Ellen was a creative, challenging, dedicated and generous elementary school teacher for 20 years. She loved teaching, but truly fulfilled her dream when she studied, trained and taught sign language to deaf children for many years. Watching the joy on the little children’s faces when they could actually talk with their hands was, to quote Mary Ellen, “more joy than one person should be privileged to experience.” She received a ministry grant to spend time in India, which was another childhood dream. While there, she assisted with setting up a program for deaf children.

 

Mary Ellen was always a person ready to assist anyone with any need whether it was a ride, bringing communion or stopping by to pray and she always brought a treat, usually her own homemade cookies.

 

Helen and Mary Ellen both were BVM women of deep Faith, expressed differently out of their lived experiences. They were devoted to the Eucharist and the rosary. Both followed the call of Jesus in their healing ministries, one in nursing with the physically ill and one healing the sound barrier by teaching the communication skill of sign language.

 

Both women were waiting “for the place prepared for them in their Father’s house.” May we pray especially with them during the responsorial psalm today and feel their joy as we sing “My Soul rejoices in God, my Savior.” Their spirits have found the joy we all await in God, the living God.