Mercy Sister Solina (Alice) Hicks, 105, died Sept. 23.

Born in Wisconsin, Sister Solina attended Mercy High School in Milwaukee and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1934.

Her first assignment was as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at St. Cecilia, Chicago.

After 10 years of teaching in Chicago Catholic schools, she earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1952 from Saint Xavier College and a master of fine arts degree in 1954 from Siena Heights College in Adrian, Michigan. Upon graduation, she began her life’s work as an art teacher, and always as a working artist.

Sister Solina was the original designer of the art department at Saint Xavier College’s new campus in 1954. She served as its first chair from then until 1965. She created the Saint Xavier College shield which is still in use today.

Her own work was controversial as she introduced the college community to modern art. “If the church has to deal with the modern then there has to be modern art in the church,” she said.

Always a progressive, Sister Solina’s later experiences included teaching art at an alternative school for Mexican Americans in California. She also spent time on a Navajo reservation in Arizona.

At 105 years old, Sister Solina was the oldest Sister of Mercy in the West Midwest Community.

Divine Word Father Stanley Plutz, 92, vice postulator for the canonization of St. Arnold Janssen and longtime missionary in the Philippines, died Sept. 23 in Techny.

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Father Plutz entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1940 and professed religious vows in 1946.

In 1953, he was ordained to the priesthood and left for his first overseas assignment in the Philippines in 1954.

In 1999, Father Plutz became the vice postulator for the sainthood cause of Father Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word.

Upon returning to the United States in 2000, he was assigned to the U.S. Southern Province and continued to promote devotion to St. Arnold, who was canonized in 2003.

During his 46 years as a missionary in the Philippines, Father Plutz served as a teacher and spiritual director.

Father Plutz had been living at Techny since 2013.

Adrian Dominican Sister Virginia (Joan Patricia) O’Reilly, 91, died Sept. 24 in Adrian, Michigan.

Sister Virginia was born in Detroit and was in the 75th year of her religious life.

Sister Virginia ministered in Illinois, Florida, Georgia and Michigan.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Rita Elementary School (1944-1946), Aquinas High School (1960-1964) and Illinois Institute of Technology (1967-1968).

Sister Virginia is survived by a sister, Patricia Rush.

Deacon Philip White, 73, died Aug. 28 in Wisconsin. He was ordained in 1980 and served at St. Eulalia, Maywood, and Mercy Home for Boys and Girls.

Deacon White, formerly of Westchester, was born in Ireland and attended University College Dublin, where he met his wife of 43 years, Lucy Power.

The couple immigrated to Chicago in 1974 and Deacon White taught religion at Immaculate Heart of Mary High School in Westchester.

He is survived by his wife, Lucy; daughters Rachel White and Maureen White; son Brendan White; and three grandchildren.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Prudence Ludwig died Aug. 16, her 96th birthday, in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin.

Born in Montana, Sister Prudence made her first religious profession in 1945 and her final profession in 1948. She served in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Nebraska, California and Colorado.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Prudence taught at St. Philip Benizi (1945-1949), Visitation (1957-1958) and St. Brendan (1960-1967 and 1978-1979).

She is survived by a sister, Barbara Corboy.