Adrian Dominican Sister Mary (Clare Patrick) Nugent, 92, died Aug. 2 in Adrian, Michigan.

She was in the 69th year of her religious life. Born in Chicago, she went to high school in England before entering the congregation.

Sister Mary served in education and in secretarial work in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Florida.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she was a teacher (1966-1969), academic adviser (1982-1986) and facility director (1986-1988) at Regina Dominican High School, Wilmette; an office worker at Education & Intervention (1988-1991); an emergency claims worker at GAB Business Services Inc., Westchester (1991-1992); administrative assistant at the British Home, Brookfield (1992-1993); secretary to the president at Fenwick High School, Oak Park (1993-1998); and parish secretary at St. Mary, Riverside (2000-2004).

She is survived by a sister, Clare Halpin.

Deacon Thomas Joseph O’Connell, 88, died at his home in Crest Hill on Aug. 10. He was ordained in 1978 and served at St. Walter Parish before moving to the Diocese of Joliet, where he served at St. Mary Immaculate Parish.

Born in Chicago, he attended St. Columbanus School and Leo High School. He attended Loyola University Chicago before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He joined the Chicago Fire Department in 1958, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant in the Fire Prevention Bureau. He was known nationally for his efforts in public education, his “Learn Not to Burn” programs for young children and the establishment of the Illinois Burn Camp for children scarred by fire injuries.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Margaret; his children Thomas O’Connell Jr., Peggy DesPain, Timothy O’Connell and Kathleen O’Grady; 10 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and brothers Jack and Ted (Debbie) O’Connell.

Father William J. McNulty, 87, died Aug. 11. He was pastor emeritus of St. Patrick Parish, Lake Forest.

Father McNulty was born in Chicago and attended St. Angela, Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary before being ordained in 1961.

He was assistant pastor of St. Justin Martyr; St. Martha, Morton Grove; and Queen of All Saints Basilica Parish. He served as chaplain to Catholic Action Federations and was director of the archdiocesan Office for Marriage and Family Life and the Pastoral Services Department. Father McNulty served as associate pastor of St. Mary, Evanston, and pastor of St. Patrick Parish. The title of pastor emeritus was bestowed on him in 2004.

Father Larry Hennessey, who has spent the last 30 years at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, would share coffee cake and coffee every Sunday with McNulty.

“He was very unpretentious,” Hennessey said. “There was a real humility about him, that he readily acknowledged. He loved to learn new things.”

Redemptorist Father Anthony Judge, 68, died Aug. 5 in Minneapolis.

Born in St. Louis, he professed perpetual vows as a Redemptorist in 1973 and was ordained a priest in 1979.

He was sent to the Amazon region of Brazil, where he served from 1980 to 1990.

When he returned to the United States, Father Tony learned Spanish so that he could provide pastoral care to Hispanics and newly arrived immigrants in the language in which they speak to God. He served in parishes in Colorado, then ministered as an itinerant mission preacher and coordinated and led Hispanic ministries in California and Kansas.

Father Tony joined the Redemptorist Mission Team in Chicago as a missionary preacher in 2008, and was appointed director of the Mission Team in 2011. Four years later, he was assigned associate pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in Minneapolis, where he was serving at the time of his death.

Sister of St. Joseph Lucia Marie Gibbons, 94, died Aug. 6.

She had been a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph for 73 years. Over her long career, Sister Lucia taught elementary school at Our Lady of Bethlehem and St. Joseph Academy in LaGrange Park; St. Francis Xavier, LaGrange; Mount Carmel, Chicago Heights; St. John Fisher; and in Mississippi.

She taught secondary school at Nazareth Academy, LaGrange Park, and St. Paul High School. She also served as pastoral associate at St. Hubert, Hoffman Estates.

Father Donald J. Headley, 89, died July 16. He was pastor emeritus of Our Lady of Mercy Parish.

Born in Chicago, he attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary before being ordained in 1958.

He served as assistant pastor of Old St. Patrick and St. Theresa, Palatine. He was a faculty member at Quigley Preparatory Seminary and director of the Cardinal’s Committee for the Spanish Speaking; he was chaplain at the St. Joseph Carondelet Child Center; and he was part of the San Miguelito Panama Mission from 1968 through 1980.

Father Headley also served as associate pastor of Mater Christi Parish, North Riverside, and St. Paul Parish (22nd Place). He was pastor at Our Lady of Mercy Parish from 1982 through 1997, and the title of pastor emeritus was bestowed on him in 2002.

Father Donald Nevins, pastor of St. Agnes of Bohemia Parish, first knew Father Headley when Nevins was a seminarian visiting the San Miguelito Mission.

“I remember one of the first weeks we were there, in 1973, he invited us to go with him to visit a community and its school,” Nevins said. “We piled into his Volkswagen Beetle, drove on dirt roads to a river crossing, left the car there and walked across the small bridge to get us close to the community. The kids rushed him as he got closer, and we all sat with them, disrupting their class for a good half-hour. My time there with him was really formational for me.”

According to Nevins, Father Headley’s passion was to teach laypeople, especially after the Second Vatican Council: He truly believed in the focus of Vatican II and did what he could in the archdiocese and other places to raise up the expectations of laypeople in the church to fulfill their call to leadership, Nevins said.

Father Gary Graf, pastor at Sts. Paul, Agnes and Kieran Parish in Chicago Heights, was the homilist at the funeral Mass for Headley. “Donald Headley set the bar for all priests to achieve in ministry,” Graf said. “He loved everyone he ever met. His life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ were perfectly compatible. He taught teachers, catechists, ministry leaders, priests and bishops how to live and serve as Jesus did. He did so in his every word and especially in how he lived and taught us how to live our lives.”

Deacon Dennis L. Colgan, 77, died July 18. He was the retired associate director of the Office for the Permanent Diaconate and was ordained in 1985.

Deacon Colgan served at St. Mother Theodore Guerin Parish.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret; children Kevin Colgan, Daniel Colgan and Megan Black; six grandchildren; and siblings Laurene Strum, Thomas Colgan and Janet Lapen.

Providence Sister Annette (Edna Carolyn) Schipp, 99, died July 14 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Born in Indiana, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1940 and professed final vows in 1948.

Of her 81 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered for 49 years in education in elementary schools in Indiana and Illinois, before serving as a receptionist and parish and community volunteer.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Immaculate Conception (Talcott Avenue) (1948-1953). 

Sister of St. Casimir Kathleen Smith, 79, died July 14 in Lemont.

Born in Chicago, she graduated from Maria High School in 1959. She made her first vows in 1962 and her perpetual vows in 1967.

She served as an elementary school teacher in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and California and as a high school art teacher in Illinois and Michigan, receiving awards for her work and that of her students. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she began her ministry teaching first and second grades at Sts. Peter and Paul (1962-1966, 1971-1973); Our Lady of Vilna (1969-1970); and St. Anthony, Cicero (1974-1977). She then taught art at Maria High School (1977-1995).

Sister of St. Joseph-Third Order of St. Francis Magdalene Kabat, 86, died July 19.

She was in religious life for 67 years and had been a dedicated teacher in Indiana and Illinois, and she served as principal of St. Mary of Czestochowa, Cicero.

She is survived by siblings Lorraine Gorski, Melanie Cholewa, Robert Kabat and Patricia Harp.