Sr. Mary Choiniere, CSJ

* https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85602948468?pwd=RVhYV0wrTCsrWGlsbmRxSVhpWm1pQT09 Meeting ID: 856 0294 8468 Passcode: 698767 Mary Choiniere was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 30, 1930, the daughter of Joseph and Florence (Chartier) Choiniere. She was a member of St. Philip Neri in Detroit, Michigan at the time of her entrance into the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Nazareth on January 2, 1949. She received the name Sister Genevieve Marie at her reception on July 2, 1949, but later returned to her baptismal name. She pronounced first vows on July 2, 1951, and final vows July 2, 1954. Sister Mary graduated from Nazareth College with a degree in Biology and Chemistry. She began her teaching career at St. Benedict’s in Highland Park and then at St. Veronica’s and St. Joseph’s, all in the Archdiocese of Detroit. In 1961, She returned to Nazareth in Kalamazoo and continued teaching at Barbour Hall Military Academy until completing a degree in Administration-Supervision from Central Michigan University in 1968. For the next 26 years she worked in the Archdiocese of Detroit Education Office as a supervisor in Special Education. Later, as a Pastoral Minister, Sister Mary spent the next several years at St. Alan’s (later - Christ Our Light) in Troy. From a reflection about Sister Mary: She has rubbed elbows with lawmakers and archbishops, bringing one hardened senator to tears as he read valentines her students had made for him. One of her most moving experiences was when she was dressed as the Alhambra Easter Bunny, which she did for twenty years. A grown woman with special needs, who had never uttered a word in her life, rubbed sister’s bunny arm and lovingly SPOKE, “Ohhhhhh!!!” Quoting Sr. Mary: “My life is filled with joy…. I am glad and thankful to have been everywhere I have been, doing what I have been doing.” She was the first to admit she had a life-long addiction - to polka music. “That’s where my God is. Our God is in FUN: in music and community.” And as she finished this statement, she reached behind her and turned up the volume of the radio, playing her favorite polka. May She Rest In Joyful Peace!