Sister Dorothy Landers, O.P. (formerly Sister M. Cyrilla), a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic for 75 years, died on Oct. 22. She was 94.
She entered the Amityville Dominicans from the parish of St. Mary Gate of Heaven in Ozone Park, on Feb. 2, 1945, and received the habit and religious name, Sister Cyrilla, in August of the same year. On Aug. 6, 1946, she pronounced her religious vows.
Sister Dorothy (Dotty) followed the ministries of teaching on the elementary school level (St. Thomas the Apostle, 1946-48) and secondary level (Dominican Commercial High School, St. Nicholas High School, and St. Agnes High School, Rockville Centre, 1948-71). From 1971 until 1975 she ministered in the Rockville Centre Diocesan TV Studio. She then taught at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York, and at The American College, Louvain (1986-90).
She was also a director of Field Education at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California, 1990-96.
Sister Dorothy volunteered at Immaculate Conception Seminary until poor health necessitated a change to Carlin Hall, Amityville in 2012.
A funeral Mass was celebrated on Oct. 26, in the motherhouse chapel, followed by burial in the Sisters’ Cemetery in Amityville.
Sister M. Lenore McAllister, I.H.M., of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died on Oct.25, 2020, at Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton. She was 97.
She was born on Nov. 23, 1922, in Syracuse, NY, and given the name Eleanor Cecilia. She entered the IHM Congregation on Feb. 2, 1941, and made her temporary profession of vows on Aug. 2, 1943, and her final profession on Aug. 2, 1946.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French/Social Science, and a Master of Science degree in English/Education, both from Marywood College.
Sister Lenore served as a teacher at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Elementary School in Forest Hills, Queens, (1956-59), amongst many other educational assignments.
She also served as librarian at St. John the Evangelist Elementary School in Binghamton, NY, (1967-74), and St. Paul Elementary School in Cranston, RI, (1974-78). From 2006 until the time of her death, she was a prayer minister at the IHM Center and at Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton.
Her interment was at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, PA.
Sister Catherine Smith, S.C., (Sister Miriam Magdalen), a Sister of Charity for eighty-three years, died on Oct. 24, at Cabrini of Westchester, Dobbs Ferry. She was 101.
She was born Jan. 3, 1919, in Manhattan, NY; and attended Our Lady of Good Counsel School and Cathedral High School, both in Manhattan.
She worked as a telephone operator at Bell Telephone before entering the Sisters of Charity of New York on Sept. 8, 1937.
Sister Miriam Magdalen earned a BA in English from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Bronx, and an MA in Home Economics from New York University.
She served in the ministry of education for thirty-six years on various levels. She taught grade one at St. Paul, Home Economics at Bishop McDonnell High School, both in Brooklyn, and served as Principal of Blessed Sacrament High School, Manhattan.
After fifty years of full-time ministry, she volunteered for twenty-one years at Saint Joseph Medical Center, Yonkers. In 2016, she joined the retirement community of Sisters of Charity at Cabrini of Westchester, Dobbs Ferry, and lived there until her death.
Among the treasures in her room in Cabrini was a picture of FDNY Chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, who died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. She had taught him at St. Paul School, Brooklyn.
A funeral Mass was held on Oct. 28, in St Margaret of Cortona Church, Bronx. Burial was at St. Joseph Cemetery, Yonkers, NY.