Fr. Byron Maher

PASTOR EMERITUS

Father Byron G. Maher, pastor emeritus of Transfiguration Parish in Wauconda, died May 23, in Wisconsin. He was 85 years old.

A Chicago native, he attended St. Priscilla School, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

He was ordained in 1950 and served as assistant pastor of St. Angela (1950); St. Frances of Rome, Cicero (1951-54); St. Ethelreda (1954-61); St. Ann, Lansing (1961-64), Maternity B.V.M.(1964-68) and Old St. Patrick’s (1968-75). He was then named pastor of Transfiguration. He retired in 1990.

Since then, he has resided in Burlington, Wis., where he assisted at Immaculate Conception Parish and in other parishes of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Father Maher is survived by his sister, Mary McInerney.

Sr. Bonaventure Kusek

FORMER CEO

Resurrectionist Sister Bonaventure (Matilda) Kusek, 91, died May 22 at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago.

A Nebraska farm girl, she entered the Congregation of the Resurrection in 1942 and came to Chicago. She began working in Resurrection Hospital’s purchasing department when the hospital first opened in 1953. Sixteen years later, she was named CEO. Since her retirement in 1993, she volunteered at Resurrection Medical Center, greeting patients and visitors at the information desk.

During Sister Bonaventure’s tenure as CEO of Resurrection Hospital, and later as president of Resurrection Health Care, she laid the foundation for the creation of the largest Catholic health care system in Chicago and one of the area’s top employers.

In 1978, she began planning and construction of the Resurrection Retirement Community, and three years later led the creation of the Resurrection Health Care Corporation in 1981. She remained the CEO of Resurrection Hospital while assuming the role of president of Resurrection Health Care Corporation.

The system later grew into eight hospitals, 10 nursing homes, four retirement communities, a homehealth company and numerous other ambulatory care services.

To foster and manage charitable contributions, Sister Bonaventure formed the Resurrection Development Foundation under the umbrella of the Resurrection Health Care Corporation. The foundation provided a formal fundraising structure to continue the work of Resurrection Health Care and its affiliates. Sister Bonaventure retired in 1993.

Sister Bonaventure is survived by siblings Floyd, Mildred, Helen, Sister Lenore Kusek and Sister Clara Frances Kusek.

Ann Abrams

43 YEARS AT CATHOLIC CHARITIES

Ann Abrams, 80, died April 19 in her Chicago home.

A native of Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, she began her career at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1955 as a junior caseworker serving l ow-income families, and for the next 10 years, she provided counseling and support to unmarried mothers from pregnancy through delivery and beyond, as they planned for their child’s future. From 1968 through her retirement from Catholic Charities in 1998, Ms. Abrams served successively as a social worker, supervisor, program director and department director of Catholic Charities Maternity-Adoption Department.

Ms. Abrams grew up in Christ the King Parish on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Longwood Academy.

She is survived by her sisters Joan Gibbons and Kathleen Cleary.

Sister Annette Petty

EDUCATOR

BVM Sister Annette (Juanita Marie) Petty, 74, died May 6, in Dubuque, Iowa.

A California native, she entered the BVM congregation in 1961 and professed final vows in 1969.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Annette taught second and third grade at St. Thomas of Canterbury (1964-66). She also taught in Missouri and California.