Sr.  Mary Joan Francis Kaminski died July 23 at McAuley Center in Farmington Hills. She was 93.

Born in Ludington May 2, 1917, to Francis and Johanna (Jastrzebski) Kaminiski, both originally of Poland. She attended St. Stanislaus Elementary and St. Simon High School, Ludington. She graduated from high school in 1935, and entered the Sisters of Mercy on Sept. 8, 1938, in Dubuque, Iowa. She was temporarily professed in 1941, and made final vows Aug. 16, 1944.

In 1941, Sr. Kaminski began teaching in parish elementary schools in Muskegon, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Big Rapids, Bay City, and other cities in Michigan. After completing her master’s degree in religious education from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., she began a new ministry in religious education at St. Cletus Parish in Warren. She also participated in summer sessions at the Pius XII Institute in Detroit. When, in 1970, Fr. Gilbert Rahrig, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Howell, requested the services of a full-time religious education program coordinator from the Sisters of Mercy of the Detroit Province. Sr. Kaminski accepted the assignment.

“She loved teaching religious education, and her dedication and enthusiasm for her work was often described as ‘contagious,’” a statement from the Sisters of Mercy said.

At one point, she had more than 350 pupils involved in the religious education program - with 140 of them high school age where she had been key in setting up bi-weekly classes for the teens in the homes of host couples. On Sundays, when she wasn’t busy with religious education, she visited the patients at Greenbriar Nursing Home, and assisted in whatever manner was needed. After retiring from religious education in 1985, she ministered as a volunteer at Samaritan Health Center in Detroit.  She also served on the board of St. Rose Senior Center during this time. Sr. Kaminski moved to McAuley Center in 1995 where she participated in the ministry of prayer, enjoyed developing her artistic talent, and shared life in community with her sister, Phyllis, and the other sisters. She was preceded in death by her siblings including Sr. Mary Phyllis Kaminski, RSM, and Msgr. Francis Kaminski.

A funeral Mass was celebrated July 26 in the chapel of McAuley Center, Farmington Hills. Burial was in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield

Memorials to Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community, 29000 Eleven Mile Road, Farmington Hills 48336.