Deacon Joseph Rowan
DARIEN – Deacon Joseph Lawrence Rowan, a longtime resident of Darien, died peacefully on November 26, 2013. He was 88.
Joseph Rowan was born in Phoenixville, PA, on July 26, 1925. He served with the Merchant Marine in the North Atlantic during World War II. After serving in the military, he joined the American Broadcasting Company, eventually becoming a vice president. He moved his family to Darien in 1972.
After his retirement, he pursued degrees at Charter Oak College and Southern Connecticut University, receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in philosophy. An avid reader, he particularly loved philosophy, religion and history.
“Joe was what I would call a cheery conservative,” says Deacon William Murphy, who serves at St. Joseph Parish in South Norwalk. The two men were in the diaconate program together. “He loved the age of monasticism, and his hero was St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the great spiritual writer and Doctor of the Church. He was surrounded by us Vatican II guys. We drove him crazy—but he was always ready to laugh about it.”
Deacon Rowan was ordained by Bishop Edward M. Egan in 1995 and served at St. Thomas More Parish in Darien and St. Aloysius Parish in New Canaan.
In addition to his intellectual pursuits, he loved aviation and became a licensed private pilot on his 50th birthday.
Deacon Rowan was predeceased by his wife, Ann, in 2011. He is survived in this diocese by his daughter Ann Dickson and her husband Thomas and their two sons, who are members of St. John Parish in Darien. His son, Paul, lives in New York City.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Deacon Rowan at St. John’s on November 30. Msgr. Frank McGrath, St. John’s pastor, was the celebrant and homilist. Interment was private.
Sr. Hone, RSCJ
Margaret Mary Hone, RSCJ, died on November 24, 2013, at Teresian House in Albany, NY. She was 88.
Born in Rochester, NY, on September 8, 1925, she entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1947 at Kenwood in Albany and made her final vows at the Motherhouse in Rome in 1956.
She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in New York City in 1947 and her master’s from the Manhattanville Graduate Division in Albany in 1952.
She spent almost a decade teaching in New York, Rhode Island and Michigan. When, to her surprise, she was called upon to handle financial administration, she found that she loved the work.
Meticulous by nature, she continued in that ministry, including financial work for the congregation’s academies in Darien and Greenwich from 1970-88. In 1988 she was called back to Kenwood, where she managed financial affairs and helped in any way needed until 2005, when she entered prayer ministry.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Sr. Hone on December 2 in the Teresian House Chapel in Albany. Burial followed in the Sacred Heart Cemetery at Kenwood.
Sr. Janice May, RSM, served at Lauralton Hall
Sr. Mary Janice May, RSM, died on November 9 in Hartford. She was 88. Helen Catherine May was born in Bridgeport on August 4, 1925. Drawn by the example of the Sisters she had known as a youngster, she entered the Sisters of Mercy following graduation from high school.
She earned a B.S. degree in education from St. Joseph College in West Hartford and a masters’ degree in administration from Boston College. Later she did extensive post-graduate studies at both St. Joseph College and Fairfield University.
Sr. Janice taught and served as a principal in elementary schools around Connecticut before coming to Our Lady of Mercy Academy Lauralton Hall, in Milford. She spent the past 35 years, her happiest, at Lauralton, ministering as a teacher, guidance counselor, and admissions director. In 1990 Sr. Janice was honored by Lauralton with the Mother Mary Augustine Claven Award. After her retirement in 2003, she continued to serve there as a volunteer staff assistant until her move to St. Mary Home in West Hartford a few months before her death.
Her life was celebrated with a Mass of the Resurrection on November 14 in the chapel at St. Mary Home. Burial followed in St. Mary Cemetery.
