May 16, 1938 – June 25, 2025
Memory Service
Date: Thursday, July 10, 2025
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. CT
Location: Wheaton Franciscan Sisters
Our Lady of the Angels Chapel
26W171 Roosevelt Road
Entrance #7
Wheaton, Illinois – 60187
Mass of Christian Burial
Date: Friday, July 11, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m. CT
Location: Wheaton Franciscan Sisters
Our Lady of the Angels Chapel
26W171 Roosevelt Road
Entrance #7
Wheaton, Illinois – 60187
Sr. Mariette was born on May 16, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri to the parents of Dorothy (Vavra) and John Kalbac. She was the eldest child, followed by 6 brothers: Jack, Ken, Frank, Bill, Ray, and Robert. Her elementary and high school education was in St. Louis. Her vocational influence came through contact with our Sisters at St. Anthony Hospital, and the Franciscan Friars with whom she worked as a secretary when she was in high school.
Sr. Mariette entered our community in Wheaton, IL in 1956. When she was received into the Novitiate, she received the name of Sr. Dorothiann of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She professed her first Vows in 1959 and her perpetual Vows in 1964.
Following her education, Sr. Mariette served in various roles, to mention a few: she taught at elementary and secondary levels; served in parish ministry; served as a representative of Women Religious in the Joliet Diocese; was Province Secretary; served two 4-year terms of office as Provincial Directress; and was later trained as a chaplain, working at Marianjoy. Having also been trained as a Literary Tutor, she tutored immigrant students in ESL (English as a second language) and helped them prepare to become US citizens.
Sr. Mariette’s life was an expression of her various talents. She shared her gifts and experiences in a variety of ways. She always had an interest in languages and appreciated the opportunities to meet our Sisters in other Provinces of the congregation, and to practice her attempts at various languages!
In the last years of her life, when she was cared for at St. Patrick’s Residence, Sr. Mariette formed many new contacts. Her gracious disposition and smile endeared her to other residents and to the staff who cared for her.
When asked how she wanted to be remembered, she said: “As a sister companion on the journey through life, helping and being helped to walk in the footprints of Jesus, as Francis and Clara Pfaender did.” And so she did!
Sr. Mariette had a deep devotion to our Blessed Mother. Certainly, Mary was there to escort her into heaven when she breathed her last breath on June 25, 2025.
Psalm 23
“Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.”
