Recent Deaths

Sister Helen Frances Doremus
1927 - 2014

Sister Helen Frances Doremus, 86, of the Servants of Mary, died unexpectedly May 2, 2014, at Addolorata Villa, Wheeling, Ill.

Sister was born in Lyndhurst, NJ on July 21, 1927. She joined the Servants of Mary in 1978 and professed first vows in 1980. She earned a BA in education from DePaul University in Chicago and a master’s in Ministry at Loyola University, Chicago.

In the 1960s she became interested in a Special Religious Education Program (SPRED) for developmentally disabled. The program involved parents, teachers, and catechists, who came together to form small communities of faith and friendship and teach people with learning disabilities the basic tenets of the Catholic faith. As a volunteer catechist, Helen introduced the program in a Chicago and Oak Park, Ill. parish.

Her experience with the SPRED program led her into full-time ministry with the developmentally disabled at Misericordia a home for developmentally disabled children and adults in Chicago. 

While at Misericordia she developed one of the first Jewish Religious Education programs at a Catholic Institution, an accomplishment for which she was awarded the 1993-94 Chicago Region Community Service Award from a Jewish group called the Women’s American Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training. She was the first Catholic Sister and the first gentile to receive this award.

In 1985 Sister was invited to spend two years in England. The Hampton Diocese wanted someone to develop a religious education program for adults with disabilities.

She is survived by her brother Joseph Hendricks and her Servite Sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents Frances and Fredrick, brother Al and sister Ginny Brouder.

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