Sister Mary Kay Moran, OP 1939-2021
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Sister Mary Kay Moran, OP
1939-2021
In her six decades as an Adrian Dominican, Sister Mary Kay Moran’s
ministries took her from big cities such as Detroit, San Francisco, and
Chicago to the remote islands of southeastern Alaska.
Mary Catherine Moran, as she was baptized although she was always
known as Mary Kay, was born in Toledo, Ohio, on May 25, 1939, to William
and Mary (Heitkamp) Moran. She was the second of three children born to
the couple, her siblings being Thomas and Barbara.
At some point very early in Mary Kay’s life the family moved to Detroit’s northwest side. William, a
Toledo native, was a yardmaster for the New York Central Railroad, while Mary, who was born in the
small unincorporated town of North Creek, Ohio, was a stay-at-home mother.
In her life story, Sister Mary Kay remembered her childhood as a very happy one. She attended
kindergarten at Burt Elementary School and then was educated at Christ the King School and Our
Lady of Mercy High School.
Although she began thinking about religious life as early as seventh grade, she was not especially
attracted to either the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters who taught at Christ the King or to the Mercy
Sisters of her high school years. And so, after graduating from high school in 1957 she went to work
as a clerk at the J.L. Hudson Department Store.
It was at Hudson’s that she made friends with another employee whose sister was a novice with the
Adrian Dominican Sisters, and when she accompanied her co-worker on a visit to Adrian she found
herself drawn in by the welcoming atmosphere and the joyful spirit of the Motherhouse.
When she decided she wished to become an Adrian Dominican Sister, her parents and siblings were
very supportive, and on February 2, 1959, she arrived in Adrian to begin her postulancy. She became
a novice that August and was given the name Sister William Mary, after her parents.
After her canonical novitiate year was complete, she was sent to Our Lady of Loretto School in
Hometown, Illinois, where she spent three years (1960-1963) teaching fourth grade and then seventh
and eighth grades. She quickly discovered she enjoyed teaching, especially because of the
interactions she could have with the children.
Subsequent assignments were to St. Edmund School, Oak Park, Illinois (1963-1964); St. Brendan
School, San Francisco (1964-1973), during which time she completed her Bachelor of Science in
Education degree, majoring in history, at Siena Heights College (University); and All Saints School,
Hayward, California (1973-1974).
At that point, illness required her to take a year of sick leave; when she returned to the classroom in
1975, it was at St. Edward School, Carlsbad, New Mexico, for the first half of the 1975-1976 school
year, followed by a year and a half at Queen of Heaven School, Albuquerque, New Mexico, until June
1977.
She then went to St. Thomas School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she spent fifteen years (1977-
1992), earning her master’s degree in mathematics education from Eastern Michigan University in
1979.
The next few years were spent in Florida, first at Rosarian Academy, West Palm Beach, Florida
(1992-1994); and then at Hope Rural School, Indiantown, Florida (1994-1995). At that point, she went
to Loyola University, Chicago, to begin work toward a master’s degree in religious education, which
she completed in 1998 during her time teaching at Sacred Heart School, Chicago (1997-2002).
The 2002-2003 school year saw Sister Mary Kay at St. Jude School in Joliet, Illinois, followed by two
years at Dominican High School and Academy in Detroit, her only experience teaching on the
secondary level. As it so happened, she was on Dominican High School’s final faculty, for the school
shut down in 2005.
But where one door closed, other doors opened. First, Sister Mary Kay and several other religious,
both Adrian Dominican Sisters and Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters (the latter including Sister Alice
Baker), started the Epiphany Education Center in Detroit to offer tutoring for elementary students.
She served as a tutor and advisor there for a few months until January 2006, when she embarked on
the biggest adventure of her life: she and Sister Barbara Kelley went to Ketchikan, Alaska, to minister
there as part of the Congregation’s Northern Initiative.
Sister Barbara wrote a lively account of that time in a remembrance after Sister Mary Kay’s death:
We were the only two Adrian Dominican Sisters serving in the Diocese of Juneau, which
is a string of islands in Southeast Alaska off the coast of British Columbia. It
encompasses the gorgeous Tongass National Forest, where Mary Kay and I used to
love to hike together.
Mary Kay was perfect for Alaska with her adventurous spirit, creativity, and love for the
outdoors. She was also an excellent teacher. We came to Ketchikan in January 2006
and she began the second semester as the sixth-grade teacher at Holy Name School in
Ketchikan. Sixth grade was the highest grade in the school. She had a tremendous,
positive influence on her class of nine boys and one girl. Early in that semester, she
transformed the boys from being the typical casual Alaskans to wearing blue dress
shirts and ties on Fridays for the school Mass. Dressing up for Mass seemed to give the
boys a certain confidence and personal pride, in a good sense. At the end of the year,
Mary Kay escorted her students on a class trip to Juneau, where they met then-
Governor Sarah Palin. The governor even invited the class to the governor’s mansion
for milk and cookies.
Mary Kay was also a pastoral minister at Holy Family Mission in Metlakatla, taking a
small plane on Sundays to spend time with the diverse Native population there and
presiding over Communion services. She was also pastoral minister at St. Catherine of
Siena Parish in Petersburg, Alaska.
Sister Barbara concluded by describing what happened once when Sister Mary Kay came to visit her
at St. John by the Sea Parish on Prince of Wales Island:
She saw what looked like a woman in a babushka scrounging through the garbage cans
at the end of the church driveway. Thinking that nobody should have to eat out of a
garbage can, she prepared a sandwich for the poor lady – only to discover, when she
got closer, that the “poor lady” was a black bear! I don’t remember what happened to
the sandwich, but she tore away from the bear as fast as she could and ran back into
the parish hall. We laughed about that for years afterwards.
The two Sisters were in Alaska until their missions there ended in April 2008. Sister Mary Kay spent
the 2008-2009 school year teaching at St. Joseph Academy and then, wanting to be near her sister,
she moved to Arizona where she taught at Holy Angels School in Globe for the 2009-2010 school
year and then served as a substitute teacher and then playground supervisor at Our Mother of
Sorrow School in Tucson from 2010 until March of 2014. During that time, she also tutored and
assisted women from Mexico who had difficulty with English.
At that point, increasing memory loss made it necessary for her to return to Adrian to live, and she
spent her last years at the Dominican Life Center, watering the plants in front of the building and
keeping the area neat and tidy. Although she became more withdrawn as dementia took increasing
hold, “she never lost her shy, reticent, twinkling smile,” wrote Sister Rosemary Asaro, Holy Rosary
Chapter Assistant, in Sister Mary Kay’s eulogy.
Sister Mary Kay died on April 12, 2021, aged eighty-one and in her sixty-first year of religious
profession. Remembrances came in for her wake service not only from Sister Barbara, but from her
longtime IHM friend Sister Alice, her brother Thomas, and from her nieces Christine Cygan, Colleen
Donner, and Karen Smith, all of whom remembered her fun-loving, even mischievous nature (and,
said Karen, her aunt’s love of chocolate, especially Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups).
Sister Joella Miller wrote the homily for Sister Mary Kay’s funeral Mass.
[W]herever she went she always seemed to find time to tutor students who needed
extra help. The interaction with the students was a key component of her success as a
teacher. She always had time for the children and seemed to enjoy helping them with
their problems be they personal or academic. She also gave her time and energy to
work with adults who lived on the fringes, teaching them needed skills and being
present to them.
… Jesus’ message for us [in the Gospel passage, Mark 10:13-16] is how to “accept the
Kingdom of God like a child.” Mary Kay knew this message and she trusted in God in
her need to grow. Like Jesus Mary Kay always opened her arms to children and adults,
especially those most in need.
What are the lessons we can learn from this holy Dominican woman? Some are to be
freer, less impatient and judgmental and to open our arms to those most in need and let
them know they are loved by God.Left: Sisters Mary Kay Moran, left, and Barbara Kelley approach Ketchikan, Alaska, on a ferry during an October 2005
fact-finding tour to explore ministries in the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska.
Right: Sisters Mary Kay Moran, left, and Marilyn Winter visit Prince of Wales Island during an October 2005 trip to explore
possible ministries in the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska.
Left: Sister Mary Kay Moran, center, with her family. Right: Sister Mary Kay Moran, middle, with her brother Tom and
sister BarbaraRight: Members of the 2009 Golden Jubilee September and February Crowds are: back row, from left, Sisters Mary Kay
Moran, Teresa Disch, Emilie Petelin, and Mary Ann Ferguson and front row, from left, Sisters Therese Johnson, Dorothy
Glaister, Marie Carmen Gonzales, Jane Zimmerman, and Donna Markham (Prioress).You can also read
