Benedictine Sister of Chicago Vivian Ivantic, 109, died Feb. 11 in St. Joseph Court Infirmary.

Sister Vivian (Rosalie M.) was born in Waukegan and attended Mother of God Parish with her family.

She became an aspirant of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago while attending St. Scholastica High School. She spent her senior year at and in 1932 graduated from Holy Child High School in Waukegan to be closer to family.

She entered the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago in 1932 as a postulant and was received as a novice the following year. In 1934, she professed her first vows and almost immediately began her long career as an educator.

Through years of after-school, Saturday and summer courses, she finally received a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University and a master of library science degree from Rosary College (now Dominican University), River Forest.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Vivian taught at St. Hilary, St. George, St. Joseph, St. Symphorosa and St. Scholastica High School, as well as her home parish, Mother of God in Waukegan. She also taught in Arizona and Colorado.

In 1952, she was assigned to Mother of God to be the house superior while serving as the teaching principal.

After more time in Colorado, she returned to St. Scholastica in 1958 to be both teacher and librarian, a position she held for 17 years. In 1978, Sister Vivian established the archives for the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago.              

She is survived by her only living sibling, Bill Ivantic.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Betty (Erneste) Smith, 83, died Feb. 11 at the Dominican motherhouse in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin.

Born in Washington, D.C., Sister Betty made her first religious profession in 1959 and her perpetual profession in 1964. She served in the culinary arts and as a teacher and pastoral minister.

In Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, South Carolina, the District of Columbia and Georgia.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she was a culinary artist at Queen of Peace Convent, Burbank.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Virginia (Angelique) Kinsella, 83, died Feb. 14 in Hazel Green, Wisconsin.

Born in Chicago, Sister Virginia made her first religious profession in 1959 and her perpetual profession in 1964. She was a teacher, principal, pastoral minister and chaplain and served as a support staff member in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Virginia taught at St. Richard (1968-1969); St. Thomas More (1986-1987); St. John de la Salle (1987-1988); and the Academy of St. Benedict the African, Laflin Campus (1988-1990). She ministered as chaplain at Alexian Brothers Medical Center and Home Health, Elk Grove Village (2001-2002).

Deacon Eugene Kummerer Jr., 62, died Feb. 2. He was ordained in 2019 and served at St. Pascal, now part of Holy Rosary Parish.

Deacon Kummerer was active in many ministries at the parish, including the liturgy and art and environment committees.

“If Gene saw something that needed to be done, he did it,” said Betty Arena, administrative assistant for the parish. “Nobody knows everything he did.”

He was the moderator for women’s club, past president and a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and led adoration and Benediction every Thursday. Friends said he would pull out his wallet to give money to homeless people as soon as he saw them.

He is survived by his parents, Margaret and Eugene Kummerer Sr.; and his siblings Brian, Jeff and Richard Kummerer and Mary Pat Lunkes.

Providence Sister Maureen Abbott, 84, died Jan. 26 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Born in Buffalo, New York, she joined the Sisters of Providence in 1956 and professed final vows in 1964.

She ministered as a teacher, principal, councilor to the provincial, provincial and director of ministries and vicar of education in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. She also worked in the marriage tribunal in the Diocese of Portland, Oregon, and wrote a history of her congregation.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Mother Theodore Guerin High School, River Grove.

Sister Maureen is survived by five sisters: Patricia Ashton, Liz Karchmer, Christine Wisian, Jean Wood and Kathy Oxford; and one brother, John Abbott.

Felician Sister Mary Susan (Mary Doreen) Holbach, 76, died Jan. 26, at Mother of Good Counsel Convent.

Born in Wisconsin, she joined the Felician Sisters aspirancy in Chicago, where she attended Good Counsel High School. She entered the Felician Sisters postulancy in 1964 and professed her final vows in 1972. She ministered in elementary schools as a teacher and principal in Illinois and Wisconsin. She also ministered as an infant care lead teacher at St. Joseph Academy and as a receptionist at Villa St. Francis in Milwaukee.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she ministered at St. Bruno (1967-1968); Our Lady of Ransom, Niles (1968-1970); St. Isidore, Blue Island (1970-1971, 1994-1999); St. Damian, Oak Forest (1971-1974); St. Mary Magdalene (1974-1975); Our Lady of the Gardens (1975-1979, 1982-1986); St. Bronislava (1979-1980); St. Joseph High School, Westchester (1986-1990); Good Shepherd (1990-1992); St. Helen (1993-1994); and Holy Innocents (1999-2002).

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Janette (Juditha) Wicker, 91, died Jan. 29 in Footville, Wisconsin.

Born in Wisconsin, Sister Janette made her first religious profession in 1954 and her perpetual profession in 1957. She was a teacher, co-principal and principal, as well as a religious education coordinator, liturgist, pastoral associate and librarian. She served in Illinois and Wisconsin.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Janette taught at St. Cajetan (1954-1963).

Father Charles W. Watkins, 78, died Jan. 27. He was the former pastor of St. Columba Parish.

Born in Florence, Alabama, Father Watkins attended Coffee High School and the University of North Alabama, both in Florence, and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein.

Before entering the seminary, Father Watkins spent more than a quarter century working in health care. In the early 1980s, he was coordinator of the cardiac surgery section and a research clinician at the University of Chicago.

He was ordained in 2003 at age 58.

After being ordained, Father Watkins was associate pastor at Our Lady of the Ridge, Chicago Ridge, and St. Cletus, La Grange. He became pastor of St. Columba Parish in 2012, and served there until he retired in 2020. Watkins was also chaplain of the Circus and Traveling Show Apostolate and served as dean of Vicariate IV-C.

Father Michael Novick, ordained in 2001 and associate pastor of St. Cletus Parish, was a close friend of Father Watkins. “He became part of my family here in Chicago, since his was in Alabama.”

Deacon Wolfgang Walter Kunath, 82, of Hudson Oaks, Texas, died Jan. 16. He was ordained in 1977 and served at St. Catherine Laboure Parish in Glenview before moving to Texas.

Born in Germany, Deacon Kunath moved to Chicago with his family when he was a child. He married his high school sweetheart, Bonnie, in 1965, after serving for six years in the U.S. Air Force.

Deacon Kunath studied at IIT Technical Institute and the University of Illinois at Chicago before working for 27 years at AT&T.

As a deacon, he taught religious education, and served in prison, hospital and nursing home ministries. He was also a fourth degree Knight of Columbus.

He is survived by his wife, Bonnie; children Eric Kunath, Gwen Hasty, Perrin Kunath and Marrika Schumann; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Adrian Dominican Sister Helen (Denis Margaret) McAllister, 83, died Dec. 17, 2022, in Adrian, Michigan.

Born in Evergreen Park, Sister Helen attended Aquinas Dominican High School. She was a member of her community for 64 years.

Sister Helen ministered in education in Michigan and Illinois. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she was campus minister at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Westchester (1985-1989) and a teacher at St. Cyprian, River Grove (1989-1995); St. Benedict, Blue Island (1995-1997) and Queen of Peace High School, Burbank (1998-2009).