Sister Helen Laier, OP 1932-2021

Sister Helen Laier, OP
                            1932-2021
                            The Laier family farm in Lima Township, Michigan, near the city of
                            Chelsea, was the birthplace of Helen Zita Laier, the first daughter and
                            third-oldest child of Gustave and Rose (Merkel) Laier.

                            Helen was born on August 10, 1932, joining her brothers Carl and
                            Edward. She was followed by five more siblings: Thomas, Lawrence
                            (who died in infancy), Robert, Teresa, and Donald.

                            Gustave was a native of Boden, Germany, while Rose was born in
Sylvan Township, Michigan, which adjoins Lima Township. The couple bought their farm in 1927, and
as a child Helen explored every inch of the property with its two large barns.

She and her brothers attended a one-room schoolhouse a mile down the road, where she was the
only child in her class. “In the eight years I attended that school there were never more than twelve
students,” she wrote in her autobiography, adding that she was never “academically inclined” and
enjoyed recess more than any school subject. “This, I think, was due to the fact that at home we
didn’t play – we had to help with the work,” she wrote.

Being the only girl until Teresa was born nine years after her, she helped her mother with the
cleaning, cooking, canning, gardening, and tending of the chickens. Carl and Robert were both blind
and Thomas was mentally challenged, so she was often called upon to help with the farming side of
things as well, including helping driving the horses during haying time. “Sometime after World War II
my father bought a tractor. That was more fun,” she wrote, although she admitted it bothered her to
be going to the fields while her brothers stayed home. One of her more happy chores, however, was
tending the lambs, which she wrote may have sparked her love for the Good Shepherd.

After grade school she was enrolled at St. Joseph Academy, where her struggles with academics
continued but where the seed of her religious vocation was also firmly planted. She graduated in early
June 1951, and entered the Congregation later that month from St. Mary Parish in Chelsea, home to
no fewer than nineteen future Adrian Dominican Sisters, including Mother Genevieve Weber.

In the fall, she was sent to teach at Our Lady of Sorrows School in Detroit until late December when
she entered the novitiate and was given the religious name Sister Thomas Albert. At the completion
of her canonical novitiate year, she embarked upon a teaching ministry that lasted for the next twenty
years, almost all of it in Michigan: St. Lawrence School, Utica, Michigan (1952-1954); St. Mary
School, Rockwood, Michigan (1954-1958); St. Kilian School, Chicago (1958-1960); St. Sabina
School, Dearborn Heights, Michigan (1960-1961); St. Patrick School, Brighton, Michigan (1961-
1965); St. Alphonsus School, Dearborn, Michigan (1965-1968); and St. Paul School, Owosso,
Michigan (1968-1971). She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics from Siena Heights
College (University) in 1960 and completed a three-summer certificate program in theology at St.
Dominic College in 1966.

Sister Helen loved teaching and preparing young children to receive the sacraments, but the changes
brought about by Vatican II and the Congregation’s subsequent Chapter of Renewal led her in a
different direction. She chose to spend a year caring for the sisters living at what was then called
Maria Health Care Center (now the Dominican Life Center) and enjoyed the experience so much that
she decided to become a nurse.

A year at the Ann Arbor School of Practical Nursing followed, with her and Sister Shirley Ruder
getting their practical experience at Adrian’s Bixby Hospital in the mornings and then driving to Ann
Arbor for classes in the afternoons. She then spent about a year and a half in 1973 and 1974 as a
staff nurse at Memorial Hospital in Owosso.

But during this time, her mother suffered a stroke, and (Gustave having died many years earlier, in
1955) it was difficult for Sister Helen to work, study for her state board exams, and help out at home
all at the same time. And so, although she loved her work at the hospital she left in March 1974 to
begin taking care of her mother and her two blind brothers full-time. Because she wanted to keep
teaching in some form, she taught fourth-grade CCD every week at St. Mary’s. She also spent many
years assisting with a prison ministry.

Her mother’s death in 1984 was a source of great pain. “I was so lost without her,” she wrote. “The
support and concern of the Sisters at Roncalli and Maria were a real support.”

About a year later, Sister Helen took a job with a home-nursing agency in Ann Arbor in which she
worked with terminally ill people on the night shift so that she could be home to look after Carl and
Robert during the day. “I learned to lean on the Lord and Our Lady driving to my clients’ homes at
night,” she wrote.

Another time of grief came in 1987 when her brother Thomas, who had been living in a group home
because of his mental handicap, died. Because he loved horses so, his casket was taken from the
church to the cemetery in a horse-drawn hearse. “He always brought us special joy,” she wrote, and
not having him in family life for things like holiday celebrations was very difficult.

Sister Helen had the opportunity over the next several years to make a number of pilgrimages: in
1988 to the Holy Land, Rome, and Assisi; in 1990 to Medjugorje in present-day Bosnia and
Herzegovina, site of appearances by the Blessed Mother beginning in 1981; and in 1992 to Betania,
Venezuela, the location of a Eucharistic miracle in 1991. All these trips were very powerful
experiences for her.

Carl died in 2003 and Robert in 2012. Sister Helen stayed in the family home until 2015, when she
returned to Adrian to reside at the Dominican Life Center. Helping ease the transition was Sister
Angela Susalla, a member of her “crowd” who had kept in close touch with her over the years and
who had come to the DLC herself not long before. Sister Angela accompanied Sister Mary Jane
Lubinski, the Adrian Crossroads Chapter Prioress, to pick Sister Helen up at the farm, and Sisters
Angela and Helen spent much time together after that.

Sister Helen died in Adrian on January 26, 2021, aged eighty-eight and in her sixty-ninth year as an
Adrian Dominican Sister. In her remembrance after Sister Helen’s passing, Sister Angela wrote this
about her longtime friend:

       Sister Helen Laier was one of the sweetest, kindest persons I was blessed to have as a
       dear friend. She was so thoughtful and kind to everyone and wouldn’t hurt or say
       anything bad about anyone. Instead, she would pray for that person. Helen was also
       one of the most prayerful persons I’ve known.

       … Helen loved the outdoors and all animals, especially her dog, Daisy, and hated to
       leave her and the farm when she came to Adrian in 2015. Helen was lonely and I spent
       quite a bit of time being with her and enjoyed every minute of it. On the Sunday after
       Helen’s birthdays, Helen’s brother Don and his wife, Penny, would take Helen and me
       out to dinner to celebrate. On the way home, Don would always take a long drive

through the countryside, so Helen could see the crops and animals. She was so happy
      and would comment on what crops were doing well and what a nice herd of cattle there
      was in the fields and always thanked God for the good weather and nice crops. She
      also loved birds and would get excited when she would see a flock of them and, of
      course, praise God for them.

      … I will miss visiting with you, Helen, taking you to the birthday celebrations of our
      crowd, sharing conversations with you, taking you to your family gatherings, and
      enjoying your excitement over birds flying around and squirrels running about. I will
      never forget what a wonderful example and dear friend you have been for me.

Memories and tributes were also shared by Sister Helen’s sister, Teresa; her sister-in law, Penny;
other family members and friends; and her parish, St. Mary in Chelsea, which also took the
opportunity to honor “the years of service of the Adrian Dominicans to our parish elementary and high
school throughout many of the 176 years we have had as a faith community, [and] the other eighteen
Dominican Chelsea vocations.”

Sister Mary Jane wrote Sister Helen’s funeral homily. Recalling Sister’s words in her autobiography
about how tending the lambs as a child may have fostered her love of the Good Shepherd, Sister
Mary Jane wrote:

      … [F]rom early days and throughout her lifetime she took on the role of the Good
      Shepherd, seeking the lost, binding up the injured and strengthening the weak. Whether
      it was teaching in elementary school, serving as a licensed practical nurse or caring for
      her family, she was there and like the Good Shepherd she could say, “I know my own
      and my own know me. I lay down my life for my sheep.” Helen was there: dependable,
      willing and self-sacrificing.

      … May we be strengthened by her example, recalling her laugh, smile and ready
      response when asked how she was: “I am fine; there is someone else worse off.” She
      now rests in peace, reunited with her beloved family. Your Adrian Dominican family will
      miss you, Helen.

Left: Reception Day, December 27, 1951. Right: From left, Sisters Angela Susalla, Mary Catherine
                      Nolan, Marion Coppe, June Racicot, and Helen Laier

          Left: Sister Helen Laier at her graduation from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian

From left, Sisters Helen Hankerd, Anne Bernadette Stein, Patricia Weigang, and Helen Laier

Right: From left, Sister Helen Laier with her sister and brother-in-law, Helen and George Trumbull

Members of the 2011 Diamond Jubilee Crowd are: back row, from left, Sisters Nancy Fischer,
Barbara Ann Hehr, Patricia J. Walsh, Mary Louise Head, Joan Weitz, Helen Belsito, Anne Beauvais,
and Celeste Mary Bourke; middle row, from left, Sisters Mary Alice Naour, Helen Laier, Thomas Leo
   Monahan, Patricia Dolan, Angela Susalla, June Racicot, Patricia Spangler, and Attracta Kelly
 (Prioress); and front row, from left, Sisters Marilyn Foster, Marion Coppe, Betty Lou Myers, Robert
        Irene Buchanan, Mary Alan Stuart, Mary Catherine Nolan, and Jane Robert Stuckel.