Sr. Joanita Duggan, IHM, died Sept. 2 in the IHM Health Care Center, Monroe, where she had been under the care of Mercy Memorial Hospice Care of Monroe. She was 96.

Born June 1, 1914, and given the name Katherine, she was the only child of Joseph and Josephine (Gorey). She attended Hall of the Divine Child in Monroe and Annunciation in Detroit for elementary school, and St. Mary Academy and Annunciation for high school, graduating from Annunciation. She became a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe in 1931, taking the religious name of Sr. Joanita.

Sr. Duggan earned a bachelor’s degree from Marygrove College and
master’s degree from Wayne State University, Detroit.

She taught in formal education for 38 years at St. Catherine, St. Matthew, St. Cecilia and Immaculata High School, Detroit; St. Mary, Wayne; St. John, Jackson, St. Mary, Lorain, Ohio; Our Lady of Lourdes, River Rouge; and for 19 years at St. Mary Academy, Monroe

In 1971 Sr. Duggan began parish ministry at St. Joseph Parish, Trenton. After five years at St. Joseph, she went to St. Mary Convent, Mount Clemens, where she ministered for 13 years as coordinator and driver for St. Mary Retirement House for IHM Sisters.

During this time Sr. Duggan took courses in gerontology from Madonna College in Livonia. She began parish ministry to the elderly in 1989 at St. Peter Parish in Mount Clemens.

After 14 years she retired to the IHM Motherhouse in Monroe. She entered the Health Care Center in 2010 where she resided until her death.

A funeral Mass was to be celebrated by Fr. Marc Gawronski in the IHM Motherhouse Chapel on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Burial was to follow in St. Mary Cemetery on the motherhouse campus.

Memorials to the IHM Retirement Fund, 610 W. Elm Ave., Monroe 48162-7909.