Sister Margaret Canuelle, IHM, age 95, died Sunday, Nov. 10, at the IHM Senior Living Community, Monroe.
As children, Leona and Roseanne Canuelle attended Our Lady of Lourdes Schools in River Rouge, where they were born to Leo and Margaret Mary (Yuhasz) Canuelle. The only two Canuelle children both entered into religious life. Leona entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monroe) and received the religious name Sister Margaret Leo. She graduated from Marygrove College and later earned a master’s in education from Wayne State University.
Sister Margaret spent a lifetime in a ministry dedicated to education. From 1951 to 1979, she taught all subjects to elementary students around Detroit at St. Martin, Our Lady of Good Counsel and Presentation; and beyond Detroit at St. John, Jackson, St. John, Benton Harbor, Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak and St. Monica, Mobile, Alabama. She educated high school students at St. Mary High School, Lorain and St. Mary, Akron in Ohio. Her teaching years specialized in matters of science and she shared her love of music.
In the latter years of her ministry, she enjoyed working with Adult Education through the Detroit Board of Education, Adult Outreach East and St. Rose School. In the early 2000s, she moved into pastoral ministry and spent more than 10 years endeared to the people and parish of St. Clare of Montefalco in Grosse Pointe Park.
A decline in health in recent years necessitated her return to the IHM Motherhouse and care found in the IHM Senior Living Community. Here, she shared her pastoral spirit and love of opera music with fellow residents and staff.
Sister Margaret is survived by her cousins and IHM Sisters in community. She was preceded in death by her sister, Rose Clement Canuelle, CSJ.
Read Sister Margaret’s Remembering.