Sister Sean Eileen Allgeyer, OP

1937-2019 “This is what Yahweh asks of you, and only this: to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God.” This scripture passage from Micah was Sean’s favorite; she took in these words and lived them faithfully in her ministry, our community, and with her family. As we say farewell to Sean, the opening words of the Magnificat, which I am certain Sean prayed often, are especially fitting: “My being proclaims the greatness of God; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior … for God, wonderful in power, has done great things for me.” Sean, like Mary, you were a humble woman, a faithful woman, a lover of God,

children, family and our community. For these fifty-nine years among us, you proclaimed God’s greatness. We thank you for this gift of your life. Blessed indeed are you among women.

These words from Sister Carol Jean Kesterke, Great Lakes Dominican Chapter Prioress, were part of her remembrance of Sister Sean Eileen Allgeyer at Sister Sean’s wake service the evening of August 22, 2019. Sister Sean was born Norene Marcella Allgeyer on September 28, 1937, in Detroit, to Elsie (Pendergast) and Harold Allgeyer. She was the tenth child and the fifth daughter; there were twelve children in all born into the family: Robert, Bernard, Raymond, Frances, Eileen, Gerald (who died in infancy), Therese, John, Patricia, Norene, William and Catherine. Her parents both came from Midwestern farm stock: Harold from near Alexis, Illinois, and Elsie from near Galesburg, Illinois. Thanks to the skills they had learned growing up on the farm, the family was quite self-sufficient: they maintained apple and plum trees and grew strawberries and a wealth of different vegetables in a large garden. Elsie baked bread and pies and made the family’s clothing herself. Sister Sean wrote that her parents even built the family home with the help of some of their neighbors; her father, an electrician who was an inspector for Detroit Edison, traded his electrical skills for two neighbors’ assistance with the blueprints and the concrete work, and he learned from a book how to do the necessary plumbing work. As for the wooden flooring, Elsie put it together and Harold laid it. Sister Sean attended elementary school at St. Scholastica School, where she was taught by Adrian Dominican Sisters. Her high school years were spent with the Mercy Sisters at Our Lady of Mercy High. When she decided during her senior year to enter religious life, she chose the Adrian Dominicans because of their friendly, happy nature. In that, she was following in the footsteps of two of her sisters. Eileen entered in 1946 but left in 1969. Therese (whose religious name was Sister Mary Geraldus) entered the Congregation in 1954. Sister Sean entered on June 27, 1959, after graduation, and became a novice late that December. After her canonical novitiate year was complete in December 1960, she was missioned to St. Andrew School in Rochester, Michigan, where she taught first and second grades. The convent was a Chevy dealer’s summer mansion located three miles away from the school.

She was at St. Andrew’s from January 1961 until June 1964, and from there was sent to St. Stephen’s, Saginaw, Michigan, where she spent the next three school years (1964-1967). Living with nineteen Sisters was something she enjoyed, she wrote, because of coming from a large family. She taught third grade her first year there, and then was switched to second grade and therefore also became responsible for sacramental prep (First Reconciliation and First Communion). Additionally, the principal decided that Sisters teaching primary grades would teach older children for CCD, so Sister Sean also found herself preparing the fifth graders for Confirmation. “With preparation for three sacraments, this made for a busy year. I sure learned a lot,” she wrote. Her next two assignments were to St. Patrick’s in Brighton, Michigan (1967-69), during which time she completed her bachelor’s degree in home economics from Siena Heights College (University), and St. Brigid’s in Detroit (1969-74). After spending a year as the dietary supervisor at St. Joseph Academy (1974-75), she taught first grade at Presentation School in Detroit (1975-77) and then at St. Raymond’s in Detroit, where she spent the next fifteen years (1977-92). She wrote that she greatly enjoyed teaching first graders and thought she was good at it. In 1976, she completed her master’s degree work in early childhood education at Wayne State University. In 1992, Sister Sean asked to take a sabbatical and spent the first part of it at the Siena Spirituality Center in Water Mill, New York, before returning to Ferndale, Michigan, to live. She also completed the ZA (the code for the Early Childhood Education Pre K-K endorsement in Michigan) coursework, which would allow her to teach kindergarten, and substitute-taught in the Ferndale Public Schools when she was not in class. After her sabbatical, she filled in for another Sister at Our Lady of LaSallette School in Berkley, Michigan, for the last half of the 1994-95 school year and then spent a few months at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Detroit before leaving for a variety of reasons. It allowed her to spend time with her father, who was in a nursing home, before he died in 1996. Elsie had preceded him six years earlier. She also took the test for her ZA endorsement during that time, and in 1997 went to Sts. Peter and Paul School in Detroit, where she taught all-day kindergarten for three years. She then went to St. Mary’s School in Mount Clemens, Michigan, where she taught kindergarten until 2008 and then spent four years as the librarian followed by four more years working with the school’s latchkey program. Throughout her time as a teacher, she also taught CCD classes ranging from pre-schoolers to sixth graders. “I have enjoyed much of my time in ministry,” she wrote. “My favorite experiences were with ‘The Little Ones,’ i.e., pre-school and kindergarten children. As the saying says, ‘All you need to know is what you learned in kindergarten’!” Sister Carol Jean said in her remembrance of Sister Sean,

Even when Sean had formally left the classroom she continued to teach young children. Sean’s affection for children was deep; tireless in her efforts, she never wanted a child to fail. With great patience and persistence, Sean would take time to tutor, teach and help young children with their homework. It didn’t have to be in a classroom or the library. Sean was frequently found sitting on the steps with a child from her apartment building teaching and reviewing proper diction, pronunciation and word recognition.

Sister Carol Jean went on to recall Sister Sean’s love for her family, her pride in her mother and father, and how much she enjoyed reminiscing with her siblings and their families and staying involved with their lives. “Their concerns were hers and prayer for them was her gift to each of them,” she said. Sister Sean also served her Congregation, whether formally as a Mission Council delegate – which is how Sister Carol Jean came to know of her “beautiful loyalty and concern for the common good” – or informally through embracing General Chapter Enactments and other Congregational concerns. And, when more than six hundred Sisters, Associates, and Partners in Mission gathered July 31-August 3, 2019, for the gathering known as “Embracing the Future / Encuentro con El Futuro / Pagyakap sa Hinaharap,” Sister Sean was present and fully engaged. “She never missed a session; she positioned herself along the side wall of Chapel, greeting and chatting with anyone who passed her way,” Sister Carol Jean said. It was to be her last time with the community she loved so dearly. On her way home to her Ferndale residence after the gathering, Sister Sean was involved in a serious car accident. She died just over two weeks later, on August 17, 2019, at the University of Michigan Hospital, aged eighty-one and in her fifty-ninth year as an Adrian Dominican. “Although Sister Sean’s death was not precisely sudden, it was too quick for her family and friends and most certainly a shock,” said Sister Jo Gaugier in Sister Sean’s funeral homily. Sister Jo recalled the places in just the recent days’ Scripture readings where God’s people are delivered to safety, saying, “We’ve been hearing again and again of God’s ‘blessed assurance’ to deliver His people from harm. That same God in whom we place our trust at times like this – times of unexpected loss of someone we know and love – our Old Testament readings have reminded us that God who is Love has a tremendous love for Sean and us. God who IS our creator, who brought us into being and IS, even in this time of sadness and loss, our rescuer.” Sister Jo went on to remember Sister Sean as someone who kept her mission group laughing and as someone who loved “the little ones: the children whom she more than just taught. She dearly and devotedly loved, with a special concern for the ones having difficulty learning; she had grit and determination that no one would fail. “… Sean, you showed us Dominican spirit, fondness for St. Patrick and love for the Blessed Mother. You showed us hope for ‘little people,’ desiring their success and trusting that all would be well. Indeed, for you, all is well.”

From left: The future Sister Sean Eileen at the age of four, 1941. From left, Sisters William Catherine Allgeyer, Sean Eileen Allgeyer, and Mary Geraldus (Therese) Allgeyer on Reception Day, December 29, 1959

Members of the Allgeyer family, 1962, are: standing, from left, Bernard, Sister Sean Eileen, Raymond, Sister William Catherine, John, Sister Mary Geraldus (Therese), and Robert, and seated, from left, Patricia, Catherine, Harold (father), Elsie (mother), William, and Mary

Left: Sister Peg O’Flynn, left, and Sister Sean Eileen Allgeyer enjoy the Mother’s Day Tea, Spring 2003 at St. Mary’s School in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Right: Sister Grace Dennis (standing) with Sister Sean Eileen Allgeyer

From left: Sister Sean Eileen’s parents, Harold and Elsie Allgeyer. From left, Sister Sean Eileen Allgeyer, Catherine Allgeyer, and Sister Therese Allgeyer celebrate Sister Sean Eileen’s Golden Jubilee, April 2009.

Members of the 2009 Golden Jubilee June Crowd are: back row, from left, Sisters Rosemarie Kieffer, Peter Anthony Schulte, Christa Marsik, Sean Eileen Allgeyer, Sarah Ann Sharkey, Jo Ann Jauquet, and Helen Wilson; middle row, from left, Sisters Mary Diane McMeekin, Susan Van Baalen, Beverly Bobola, Jean Keeley, Rosemary Zuccaro, and Joan Marie Weithman; and front row, from left, Sisters Joan Krajewski, Mary Emidio Singer, Mary Jean Clemenger, Patricia Janowicz, Delores DeBets, Joan Christine Meerschaert, and Donna Markham (Prioress).