Sr. Anne Mary of the Trinity (Barbara Jean Kearney), OP, age 90, died peacefully on Nov. 14, 2022, during the three o'clock morning hour. Sister's parents William Joseph and Florence Anna (Seavers) predeceased her. Her brothers William and Kenneth also predeceased her. She is survived by five nephews and one niece.
Sr. Anne Mary was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1932, where she grew up in a strong family. After graduating from high school, Sr. Anne went to work in a bank in Bergen Beach, New York, a predominately Jewish neighborhood which she loved. After hearing the call to leave everything behind and follow Him, she did as she heard, and in 1955 entered the Dominican Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary in Union City, New Jersey, commonly known as the Blue Chapel. In 1967, Sr. Anne left the Blue Chapel to begin a new Dominican religious community with Sr. Mary Martin DiGiambattista. These two women were successful in building and establishing Our Lady of Mt. Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan. In 2022 Sr. Anne Mary moved to the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Farmington Hills, Michigan in order to continue to live the contemplative monastic life in a community with greater numbers and support. In August 2022, after living a healthy 90 years, Sr. Anne was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer which just three months later became the cause of her death.
In her years in the Blue Chapel, Sr. Anne served as bursar and lived a strong and faithful community life in a large community of 50 sisters. As co-foundress of the Ortonville community Sr. Anne literally helped dig the foundation and relying purely on Divine Providence, together with Sr. Martin and countless friends and benefactors, established and served for over 50 years a community which will be a historically significant chapter in Dominican religious life. Sr. Anne Mary will be missed and always remembered by her sisters, friends, family, and benefactors who loved her so dearly.
Visitation will be held Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 9 a.m. until the time of the Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament, 29575 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334. Burial will follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery and then a luncheon will be provided at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament by the Sisters. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament would be gratefully appreciated.
Obituaries for clergy and religious who have lived or served in the Archdiocese of Detroit may be emailed to [email protected]. Obituaries are printed as they are submitted, but may be edited for grammar and style. Detroit Catholic reserves the right to refuse or edit any submissions.
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