In Memoriam
Remembering those who have passed.
“…And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Remembering Sister Ruth Anne Berry, OSF
Sister Ruth Anne (Norma Clare) Berry entered eternal life on February 4, 2026, at San Damiano Convento, Aparecida de Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, South America. She was 93 years old and a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate for 77 years.
Sister Ruth Anne was born in Shelby, Ohio, where she attended Most Pure Heart of Mary Elementary School before entering the Joliet Franciscans. She graduated from St. Francis Academy in 1949 and received her BA in Music from the College of St. Francis in 1961, recognized as an accomplished harpist. In her early years of teaching (1951-1956) Sister Ruth was the parish organist and elementary school teacher in Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. In the early 1960s, in response to the call of Pope John XXIII for sisters to serve the church in Latin America, Sr. Ruth was among the first four Joliet Franciscans to establish a mission in Brazil in 1963. She completed an intensive Portuguese language and culture course at the Center for Intercultural Formation, Petropolis, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Soon thereafter, in December of 1963, the mission in Santa Helena de Goiás was established.
Sharing her many gifts and her musical skills, Sister Ruth took on new adventures in teaching, pastoral ministry and the formation of young women desiring to become Franciscans. She eventually served in leadership roles for the Joliet Franciscans in Brazil and for the Center for Franciscan Pastoral Studies in Latin America. Sister Ruth continued her ministry in leadership, formation, and pastoral ministry. She was recognized and honored by the Franciscan Federation of the United States (2005) with the Peacemaker Award for her fidelity and enhancement of the mission and her ability to bring hope, peace and love to those with whom she lived and ministered.
Read More About Sister Ruth Anne’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.
Remembering Sister Grace Ann Rabideau, OSF
Sister Grace Ann Rabideau was born on January 15, 1928, in Bayfield, Wisconsin, a member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. She was named for her mother, Charlotte, and later took as her religious name the name of her sister Grace Ann. She had also been given an Ojibwe/Chippewa name, Wabanokwe, meaning “Early Star in the Morning Woman.”
Growing up was hard. Young children, along with their parents and grandparents, were picked up by farmers in their trucks at 5:00 a.m. and taken to farms to pick strawberries, raspberries, green beans and apples. She experienced ethnic prejudice: Indian vs. White and Catholic vs. Protestant. “We kids met on the bridge and called each other names,” she said. Charlotte attended Holy Family Grade School but didn’t like school. She had low self-esteem, doing well in English and spelling but not in math and never seeing herself as successful. In Bayfield High School, she was resented for being Catholic and Indian. This was during World War II and the young men were taken into the army. Girls from the high school were released early to take over men’s jobs of picking fish in freezing weather and later planting acres of beans for farmers.
Read More About Sister Grace Ann’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.
Remembering Sister Barb Kwiatkowski, OSF
Joan and Delvin Kwiatkowski welcomed their firstborn daughter on September 22, 1953, in Toledo, Ohio, and named her Barbara Ann. She and her two sisters, Susan and Kathy, were bright lights in this Polish Catholic family and often sang together as children. The family had deep Polish roots, celebrated all the Polish customs and traditions, prayed in Polish, and listened to Polish radio on Sundays.
Music was a big part of Barb’s life from childhood on. As a junior high student, she organized a group of vocalists to sing at daily Mass; in high school she sang in the choir at St. Ursula Academy; and in college she was a member of the Madrigal singers. She participated in retreats for teens and played her guitar for Masses at youth gatherings in the diocese. The theme song, Fill the World with Love, from the movie, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, won Barb’s heart as a high school sophomore, leading her to decide that this song’s lyrics would be the theme of her own life. More recently, Barb reflected: “I have tried to fill my little plot of the world with love my whole life through with courage, strength and integrity.”
After high school, Barb worked for a photographer and was the proud owner of a Honda motorcycle that she rode to and from work. She was active in youth ministry in the Diocese of Toledo and met the Joliet Franciscan Sisters who lived at Immaculate Conception Convent. After a few years, she began to discern seriously a call to religious life, something she had put aside several years before. At age 24, Barb joined the Joliet Franciscan Community. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and creative arts from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, and then a master’s degree in educational administration from Rosary College in River Forest. Her spiritual and educational background prepared her well to minister to God’s people in North and South America.
Read More About Sister Barb’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.
Remembering Sister Janet Tucci, OSF
Once, while Sister Janet Tucci was ministering to the poor of Sacred Heart Parish in Hopkins Park, Illinois, from 1978 to1983, she wrote a report to her Franciscan community which began like this: “There is a song entitled I Heard the Lord Call My Name by Jacob Krieger. In some of its lyrics are included the words, ’Take His hand; we are glory bound.’”
Janet was born, glory-bound, on May 5, 1934, to Samuel Tucci from Italy and Justine Hirsch from Joliet. She was raised in Joliet with five siblings: Richard, Sam Jr., Kenneth, Russell, and Norma. Friends growing up with her describe her fun-loving ways…like sledding down the hill near her home…and her independent spirit…like doing something first and asking permission for it later. Janet was attracted to the Franciscan Order during her years in high school at St. Francis Academy. After graduation, she joined the Joliet Franciscans in 1952 and attended the College of St. Francis where she received a BA degree in Sociology. At DePaul University in Chicago, she received in MA in Education. And she was glory bound!
As an educator, Sister Janet spent four years teaching second grade at Catholic schools in Ohio and Illinois. That was followed by teaching grades five through eight in Illinois, Ohio, and Alabama. A sister who worked with her described her as “having perfect control of hard-to-handle classes of middle schoolers who absolutely loved her.” A highlight for her as an educator came in 1965 when she received a grant for teachers of Disadvantaged Youth at Alverno College in Milwaukee. For seven years, she was the principal of St. Mary’s school in Fairfield, Alabama. While living there, Janet was introduced to the Charismatic Movement. The depth and sincerity of the participants moved her deeply, so she started a prayer group at St. Mary’s church. “The Black members really taught me to pray,” she said. “They were not hampered by language as they prayed from their hearts. I felt privileged to be in their company.”
Read More About Sister Janet’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.
Remembering Sister Brigid Jacobs, OSF
Norma Jean Jacobs was born on February 26, 1936, in Freeport, Illinois. She was the daughter of Ruth (Lahre) and Robert Jacobs. Although she had no siblings, she did claim as her distant relative Mother Alfred Moes, foundress of the Joliet Franciscans. Perhaps it was that genetic connection that gave her a feisty personality, an attraction to owning a dog and a talent for leadership in a variety of groups and causes.
Norma Jean left Freeport to join the Joliet Franciscans in 1954 after graduating from St. Joseph Elementary School and Aquin High School. She received the name Sister Brigid Marie. Rather than returning to her baptismal name after the Second Vatican Council, as many sisters did, she just dropped “Marie.” Sister Brigid received a BA with a major in sociology from the College of St. Francis in Joliet as well as an MA in theology.
For 20 years Brigid was an elementary school teacher (grades 2-8) and a director of religious education. Her ministry took her to various cities in Illinois and Ohio. During all of her years as a Joliet Franciscan, she enjoyed the companionship of her classmates and other community members. Having been an only child, she seemed to relish her connections to community in many forms. Close friends talk about the trips they took together, the meals they shared, the shopping (during which she was very frugal) and the games they sometimes played. A very special tradition with two friends grew out of a trip they once took to Massachusetts to deliver a treasured item from Illinois to another sister living temporarily in the East. The trip just happened to occur on a Halloween week-end, so this trio purposely planned Halloween trips every year for many years after that.
Read More About Sister Brigid’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.
Remembering Sister Helen Zulka, OSF
Late Saturday night, September 6, 2025, Sister Helen Zulka went home to God from her residence at Villa Franciscan Place. At almost 98 years of age, Helen leaves a legacy of uniqueness. Even her last place position in an alphabetical listing of community members was prominently perpetual. After all, who could follow Zu…!
When Helen was born in Toledo, Ohio, on November 24, 1927, to John and Helen, she was embarking on a long journey that would include interactions with two brothers, many cousins and friends, broad education in a variety of fields, ministries of educating and caring for others, and endless efforts to make others laugh.
After graduating from Central Catholic High School in Toledo in 1945, Helen came to the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. In her junior year, she was drawn to the sisters there and, after at first fighting the idea, she joined the Joliet Franciscan community just before turning twenty-one. The BA she received in 1949 from CSF was followed by studies at the Institute of Gerontology in Ann Arbor, Michigan. These studies would serve her well in a later ministry after years of teaching. But Helen wasn’t finished with her education, as schools in Indiana, Wisconsin and Florida can testify.
Known then as Sister John Edward, Helen returned to Ohio to begin her teaching career. After teaching third grade in Mansfield and Worthington, she began a 20-year experience in secondary education (1955-1975) in Ohio, Illinois and Florida. She especially enjoyed teaching art and home economics classes among a variety of subjects.
Read More About Sister Helen’s Life
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Rita or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here: Remembering our Deceased Sisters.