Sister Eileen Semonin, IHM, age 97, died Saturday, July 27, at her home, the IHM Senior Living Community.
Sister Eileen was born in Akron, Ohio, on Sept. 4, 1926, to Charles and Catherine (Schooley) Semonin. She attended St. Martha School and graduated from St. Mary High School, Akron, in 1944. In addition to knowing IHM Sisters through her education, Sister Eileen had personal experience with two cousins and an aunt who joined the IHM Monroe community. The eighteen-year-old Eileen entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in February 1945.
Upon completing studies at Marygrove College, Sister Eileen spent a few early years teaching at St. Boniface, Detroit, and Our Lady of Lake Huron, Harbor Beach. In 1951, the community assigned her to study nursing, and she enrolled in the School of Nursing at Nazareth College, Kalamazoo. For over the next 20 years, Sister Eileen served her community through nursing at St. Mary Convent/ “the Motherhouse,”/ St. Mary Infirmary. So skilled and compassionate was Sister Eileen, she moved from nursing assignments to supervisory roles to Director of Nursing and received many public accolades along the way.
A year of renewal at Mount St. Joseph College led to a position serving the people of Apopka, Florida’s Health Clinic, the West Orange Farm Clinic, and the Orange County Health Department. She was moved by the gratitude of those served and their situations.
In 1988, Sister Eileen answered the call to leadership as provincial of the Southwest Province. This necessitated her relocation first to Kentucky and then to Michigan. When her leadership term ended in 1994, Sister Eileen took time to transition and relocated to the Point Place neighborhood of Toledo. She continued in nursing at Family Medical Center, Temperance. She modified her schedule for volunteer opportunities and the camaraderie of the local community of women religious who gathered for faith-sharing and friendship. In 2009, Sister Eileen formally retired and moved to the IHM Motherhouse, where she continued to share in nursing care and pastoral support. As her health declined, Sister Eileen was cared for in health care, where she once began her beloved ministry.
Sister Eileen is survived by her brother Charles, nieces and nephews, and her IHM Sisters in community. Her sister Mary McFarland and brother Richard Semonin preceded her.
Read Sister Eileen’s Remembering here.