Sr. LaughlinA funeral Mass for Sister Suzanne Laughlin, OP, will be celebrated July 17 at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Sparkill, N.Y. Sister Suzanne, a member of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, New York, died July 8 at Montefiore Nyack Hospital. She was 81.
Born in St. Louis on May 4, 1938, Suzanne Marie was the daughter of Oliver and Catherine Hickey Laughlin. She entered the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary in Sparkill on Sept. 8, 1956, and received the name Sister James Catherine. She professed first vows in 1958 and final vows in 1963.
Sister Suzanne received her bachelor’s degree in English from St. Thomas Aquinas College, in Sparkill in 1961. She taught in schools in New York, including St. Rose of Lima, New York City (1958-1961); Holy Family, Hicksville (1961-1962); and St. Mary, Fulton (1962-1964).
She later returned to St. Louis and taught at St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Crestwood (1964-1970); St. James the Greater, St. Louis (1970-1980, teacher, 1980-1995, principal); St. Gerard Majella, Kirkwood (1995-1996); and St. Cecilia, St. Louis (1996-2001, principal). From 2001-2012, Sister Suzanne served at St. Alexius Hospital in volunteer management in recreation therapy. She had resided at the Dominican convent in Sparkill since July 2017.
Sister Suzanne is survived by her siblings, Kathleen, Mary, Margaret, Patricia, Ann Marie, Robert, Maureen, John, and Colleen, their spouses, and her 28 nieces and nephews and 44 great nieces and great nephews. Burial was in St. Agnes Cemetery.