A Memorial Mass for Sister Rose Marie Dillman will be held at the Kennedy Catholic High School Chapel starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21.
Sr. Rose Marie Dillman – who spent nearly three decades on the staff at Kennedy Catholic – passed away Friday, April 25 at the age of 87.
“One of Sister’s favorite days of the year is coming up on May 27 – her birthday,” reads an announcement. “With this in mind, we encourage you to bring her a ‘birthday’ card to the Mass and these will be shared with her family.”
To assist in planning, organizers are asking for RSVPs for those who wish to attend.
“Please extend an invite to all Lancers and others whose lives she touched – email halla@kennedyhs.org with your guest count.”
The Mass will begin at 5 p.m. in the Chapel and be followed by an informal reception with ‘birthday cake’ in the Dillman Center – which appropriately was named after her – from 6-7 p.m.
Here’s more info from her obituary:
She was the youngest of five children born to Joseph Dillman and Helen (Erck) Dillman on May 27, 1926 in Strasburg, North Dakota. When she was ten, the family moved to Yakima, WA where she attended St. Paul School. At the beginning of the war, her family moved to Saskatchewan, Canada to farm on land that had been in the family since the turn of the century. She returned to Yakima to attend high school at St. Joseph Academy. Upon graduation in 1943, she returned to Canada.
She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Providence on May 18, 1945, made her first profession of vows on November 19, 1946, and her final profession on November 19, 1950.
After her first vows, she was sent to Yakima, WA to teach 7th and 8th grade girls at St. Joseph Grade School. She spent eight summers attending the College of Great Falls in Montana. She continued teaching during the school year at Yakima. She went on to teach at these schools in Washington: St. Michael’s School, Olympia; St. Joseph School, Vancouver; John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, Seattle, 1968-1995; Sacred Heart School; Holy Family School, Seattle; Holy Rosary School, Moxee; and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Sun Valley, CA. She served as Principal and Superior for three years at Sacred Heart School, Tacoma, and as Principal for a year at Holy Family School, Seattle.
On February 8, 2009, John F. Kennedy Catholic High School dedicated The Sister Rose Marie Dillman Center, created and named in her honor by the past and present alumni, students, faculty and administration of John F. Kennedy Catholic High School. She worked at the high school for 27 years.
Her interests included poetry, writing, attending sports events at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, teaching grade school history and geography, growing roses, playing cards, and traveling. She made her first trip to Europe in 1977, traveled to Russia in 1991 and visited Europe again in 1993. Upon retirement in 1995, Kennedy Catholic High School gave her a gift of a trip to the Holy Land, Egypt and Greece. In 2001, she went to Rome for the beatification of Mother Emilie Gamelin. She also visited a Notre Dame Sister in Kenya.
While teaching at Holy Family School, Seattle in 1974, a priest requested that she make home visits so taught classes in the morning and visited homes in the afternoon. She met with many married couples, and had a core group of 12 couples with whom she had maintained a strong friendship ever since.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Kathryn Dillman Blondin, and brothers Martin, Lewis, and Blase Dillman. She is survived by two of her sisters-in-law, Gertie Dillman (Lewis) and Margaret Dillman (Blase) and several nieces and nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to the Sisters of Providence Retirement Fund, 1801 Lind Avenue SW, #9016, Renton, WA 98057-9016.