Sister Elizabeth Toohey (1935-2021)

TOOHEY

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 1/10/2021 at 13:41:54

Toohey, Sister Elizabeth, OP

September 22, 1935 - January 3, 2021

Elizabeth was born in Spalding, NE, the youngest of the six children of Mary and Jules Toohey, and moved with her family as a small child to Omaha. The family lived in the Cathedral neighborhood, and Elizabeth attended Cathedral Grade School and Cathedral High School.

Elizabeth professed as a member of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in 1956. As a Sinsinawa Dominican, she taught music at schools in Milwaukee; Florence, Italy; Sinsinawa, WI; Chicago; and Madison. Elizabeth later served as the director of initial formation for the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa; the secretary for the Office of Social Justice in Duluth; and as a spiritual director, retreat director, and workshop presenter in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where she co-founded the Center in the City spirituality center. In her later years, she maintained a private spirituality and counseling practice.

To everyone she touched, Elizabeth communicated both a simple joy in everyday life and a deep sense of the spiritual world, and she spoke passionately about the importance of beauty to the nourishment of the soul. Through her work, she expressed a delight in music and art; a commitment to social justice; a deep understanding of those experiencing personal suffering; and an abiding faith in the unseen forces which hold us all together. To her family, fellow sisters and friends, she was a supportive sister, a doting aunt, an insightful confidante, and a dedicated partner. The gifts Elizabeth shared with those her life touched will in turn be shared, through them, with persons not yet met or born.

Elizabeth was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Jules; her brothers, Ed, Jerry and Jack; her sister, Rita Roccaforte; her sisters-in-law, Dorothy and Ginny; nephews, Tom Roccaforte and Jay Johnson. She is survived by her sister, Margaret Johnson; brothers-in-law, George Johnson and Lew Roccaforte; many loving nieces and nephews. Elizabeth is also survived by her fellow Dominican sisters, with whom she shared 64 years of religious life, especially Sister Elaine LaCanne, her constant companion over the last 25 years.

The family requests that memorials be made in Elizabeth's name to Sophia's Embrace, a Fund for Sisters' Health and Wellness, c/o the Sinsinawa Dominicans, 585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI, 53824-9701 or at www.sinsinawa.org/donate. A Private Prayer Service and Remembering will be held at the Sinsinawa Dominican Motherhouse at 6:30pm, Tuesday, January 12. To join the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters virtually, go to www.sinsinawa.org/live. Repeat broadcasts of the prayer service and remembering for Sister Elizabeth will be available online at www.sinsinawa.org/live.