School Sister of Notre Dame Mary Bann, 79, died March 28, 2020, at Resurrection Life Center.

She was a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame for 60 years, and she served in Illinois and Missouri as a grade school teacher, student, postulant director and assistant director of religious education, and she did community service at Marian Village in Homer Glen, and then ministry of prayer and presence at Marian Village and finally at Resurrection Life Center.

Deacon Anthony John Towey, 79, died Feb. 22. He was ordained in 2003 and served at St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish, Des Plaines.

Deacon Towey loved to travel and had visited all 50 United States as well as Ireland. He was an avid performer in the St. Stephen variety shows for almost 30 years.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Patricia Connolly; his children Elizabeth Beasley, Kathryn Szamocki, Anthony Towey, Teresa Cook and John Towey; 19 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Sister Suzanne (Louis) Smith, 86, died on Feb. 3 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Born in Washington, D.C., Sister Suzanne entered the Sisters of Providence in 1954 and professed final vows in 1961.

During her 67 years as a Sister of Providence, she served as a teacher in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., and in the motherhouse.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Providence High School (1956-1959).

Providence Sister Ruth Ellen (Ellen Susan) Doane, 84, died Feb. 5 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Born in Indiana, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1954 and professed final vows in 1961.

During her 67 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered as a teacher in Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts and Germany, did parish work in Indiana and Iowa and served in ministries related to the congregation.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Athanasius, Evanston (1956-1961); Providence-St. Mel (1980-1985); and Our Lady of the Westside (1985-1988).

She is survived by two brothers, Paul and Mark Doane.

Adrian Dominican Sister Marie Therese (Thomas More) Emery, 97, died Feb. 5 in Adrian, Michigan.

Born in St. Louis, she was in the 74th year of her religious life.

Sister Marie Therese ministered in education in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, before working for the state of Michigan as a fleet safety project supervisor and at Michigan State University, where she was a traffic safety specialist for two years, a traffic safety program administrator for 11 years, and a technology lab director for 10 years. She was also an engineering/automotive consultant for AAA for a year in Washington, D.C.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Benedictine Sister Mariella (Carol) Hathorn, 81, died unexpectedly Feb. 7 at St. Joseph Court-St. Scholastica Monastery.

Sister Mariella was born in Pennsylvania and entered the Benedictine community at St. Joseph Monastery, St. Marys, Pennsylvania, in 1957. She made her first profession in 1959 and her final vows in 1962. Sister Mariella had a 28-year career in education in Pennsylvania, serving mostly middle grades as well as in administration as principal. In 1987, she was elected prioress of St. Joseph Monastery and served two terms there.

She then spent a sabbatical time at St. Scholastica Monastery in Chicago. During the years at St. Scholastica, Sister Mariella discerned a call to transfer her stability to St. Scholastica Monastery in Chicago and requested permission to do so in 1998.

Her first assignment in Chicago was as director of the St. Joseph Court infirmary.

She is survived by her sisters, Jean Klaiber and Sally Lanzel.

Divine Word Father Paul Gootee, 93, died Feb. 10 in Techny. He was a missionary known for faith and community development in Indonesia.

Born in Indiana, he followed his older brother into the Divine Word formation program in 1941, attending Divine Word Seminary in East Troy, Wisconsin. He professed vows in 1948 and was ordained a priest in 1955.

For more than half of century, Father Gootee worked among the Dawan-speaking people of Timor, a southeastern island of Indonesia. While caring for the people, he faced many challenges, such as famine, poor crops, scarce rain, political unrest and migration of the youth to more populated areas, yet the hardships did not deter him. In response, he built churches, schools and medical clinics, dug wells, constructed irrigation systems, installed electricity and shared the Catholic faith.

During Father Gootee’s 55 years on the island, he provided pastoral care throughout the Diocese of Atambua and worked with farmers’ unions and a consumer cooperative to foster economic justice in the region.

Father Gootee returned to the United States and was assigned to Techny in retirement in 2011.

He is survived by two sisters, Agnes James and Medical Mission Sister Patricia Gootee.

Adrian Dominican Sister Patricia (Charles Thomas) O’Reilly, 93, died Feb. 10 in Adrian, Michigan.

Born in Ohio, she was in the 75th year of her religious life.

Sister Patricia was an educator, hospital chaplain and pastoral minister in Michigan, Illinois and Nevada.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Nicholas of Tolentine (1946-1948); was office and plant supervisor at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Westchester (1977-1978); and was a pastoral minister at Resurrection Hospital (1987-1989).

She is survived by a sister, Kathleen O’Reilly.

Divine Word Father Xavier (Patrick Joseph) Cooney, 79, died Feb. 11 from complications of COVID-19 at Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview. He was a missionary who served in Papua New Guinea and Appalachia.

Born in Pittsburgh, he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1959 and professed religious vows in 1962. When he professed perpetual vows as a brother in 1968, he took the name Xavier.

For his first assignment, Brother Xavier was sent to Papua New Guinea to work in the Alexishafen carpentry shop. Three years later, he traveled up the coast to begin training as a pilot. Over the decades, Divine Word Missionaries had developed Wirui Air Service to transport supplies and people to missions that were difficult to reach by land.

By the end of the 1970s, Brother Xavier began to hear the call to the missionary priesthood. He was assigned to the Papua New Guinea Highlands for pastoral experience before beginning studies at St. Paul’s Seminary in Kensington, Australia.

He was ordained in 1983 and was assigned to Kundiawa town parish in Papua New Guinea’s central, mountainous region, where he provided pastoral care until he was transferred to the Chicago Province in 1989.

In the United States, Father Cooney provided pastoral care in West Virginia.

Because of health issues, Father Cooney moved to Techny in 2020.

He is survived by two brothers, Martin and John Cooney.

Adrian Dominican Sister Leontia “Lee” (Michael Therese) Cooney, 85, died Feb. 12 in Adrian, Michigan.

Born in Detroit, she was in the 65th year of religious life.

She ministered in Illinois, the Bahamas and Michigan.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Mary Star of the Sea.