Obituaries

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Fr. Thomas Tivy

Pastor emeritus

Father Thomas A. Tivy, 84, died April 25. He was pastor emeritus of Resurrection Parish.

Born in Chicago, he attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein before being ordained in 1962.

He was assistant pastor of St. Lambert, Skokie, and St. Hilary Parish and associate pastor of St. Gregory the Great and St. Sylvester. He was pastor of Our Lady of Grace and Resurrection, and he was named pastor emeritus of Resurrection in 2009.

In addition to his parochial assignments, Father Tivy served as judicial vicar, vicar for clergy, dean and member of the Priest Personnel Board.

Father Lawrence Gorski, former associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Buffalo Grove, was mentored by Father Tivy before he was ordained a priest. Gorski and Father Tivy became lifelong friends after that first year of mentorship.

“He was a priest to the priests,” Gorski said. “He always cared and looked out for us. He was very sensitive to people’s difficulties and went out of his way to help people.”

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Sr. Elaine Tworek

Educator

Sister of the Living Word Elaine Josephine Tworek, 80, died March 31.

Born in Nebraska, Sister Elaine was a teacher and principal at many schools, including St. Thecla (1961-1962, 1978-1980); St. Casimir (1962-1963); St. Mary of the Angels (1963-1965); Resurrection High School (1965-1973, 1980-1988); Queen of the Rosary, Elk Grove Village (1973-1978); and St. Joseph High School, Westchester (1988-1994).

She also was the coordinator of ministry for the Sisters of the Living Word (1998-2002) and a pastoral minister in South Dakota.

Sister Elaine is survived by her sister, Dorothy Greene, and her brothers, Marc and Jim Tworek.

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Fr. Gerald Wilmsen

Chicago native

Columban Father Gerald Peter “Jerry” Wilmsen, 86, died on April 6 in Bristol, Rhode Island.   

Born in Chicago, he was baptized at St. Basil and attended parochial schools before entering Quigley Preparatory Seminary in 1948.

He transferred to St. Columban’s Seminary in Silver Creek, New York, for his three remaining years of high school, after hearing a mission talk from a Columban priest.

He was ordained in 1959 and celebrated his first Mass at St. Richard Church.

He ministered in South Korea, then did vocation work while living at the Korean Center in Chicago before returning to Korea.

In 1988, he responded to a call for volunteers to teach in China. After language school, he spent most of the next decade teaching at universities in Wuhan and Guangzhou. He returned to the United States in 2000 and lived outside Hayward, Wisconsin, until deciding in 2015 to move to St. Columban’s House in Bristol.

He is survived by his brother, Lee Wilmsen.

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Sr. Mary Patricia Cummings

Educator

Providence Sister Mary Patricia (Mary Janice) Cummings, 96, died April 12 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.  

Sister Mary Pat entered the Sisters of Providence in 1942 and professed final vows in 1949. In her 79 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered as a teacher and principal and as a pastoral associate in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Sylvester (1944-1948) and St. Genevieve (1959-1961) and was a pastoral associate at Immaculate Conception (1985-2000).

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Sr. Mary Alice Neylon

Educator, pastoral minister

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Alice (Elena) Neylon, 93, died April 14 in Hazel Green, Wisconsin

Born in Wisconsin, Sister Mary Alice made her first religious profession in 1949 and her perpetual profession in 1952. She taught school and English as a second language, was a director of an adult education center and was a pastoral minister for 31 years, working mostly in Hispanic ministries. She served in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Oklahoma and Florida, as well as Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Mary Alice taught at Trinity High School, River Forest (1959-1961), and St. Thomas the Apostle (1971-1973). She was a pastoral minister at Epiphany Parish (1983-1986) and served in Hispanic pastoral ministry at Good Shepherd Parish (1986-1994) and St. Pius Parish (1994-1999).

Sr. Ellen Shannon

Educator

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Ellen (Moise) Shannon, 97, died April 17 in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. Her religious name was Sister Moise.

Born in Chicago, Sister Ellen made her first religious profession in 1944 and her perpetual profession in 1947. She was a teacher, principal, pastoral minister, convent prioress and convent business officer, and she recorded oral histories. She served in Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Washington.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Ellen taught at St. Basil (1944-1947), St. Richard (1947-1956) and Visitation. She was principal and a teacher at St. Patrick, Lemont (1962-1968) and principal of St. Luke, River Forest (1968-1974).

She is survived by her sister, Maryknoll Sister Kathryn Shannon.

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Sr. Mary Thomas Eileen Coha

Educator

Sister of St. Joseph Mary Thomas Eileen Coha, 91, died April 16.

A 1948 graduate of Nazareth Academy, LaGrange Park, she was a member of the congregation for 68 years.

Her ministry began in 1954. Until 1972, she served as prefect for younger students at Our Lady of Bethlehem Boarding School for girls in LaGrange Park. At the close of the school, she was involved in various internal ministries serving the Congregation of St. Joseph Community from 1972 to 2020.

She is survived by her brother, Thomas Coha.

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Sr. Helen Kavanaugh

Educator

Notre Dame Sister Helen (St. Helen Margaret) Kavanaugh, 85, died April 23 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Born in Chicago, Sister Kavanaugh attended Holy Rosary School and St. Louis Academy, and she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Loyola University Chicago in 1957.

After professing her first vows in 1961, Sister Kavanaugh taught high school in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Illinois and Arizona. She also was director of formation for the congregation and a member of the province council.

She retired in 2019.

She is survived by her brother, Tim Kavanaugh.

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