"God looked on everything He had made and found it very good. Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had had been doing, He rested." Genesis 1:31-2:2

Dorothy Theresa Talbot was born eighty-five years ago on April 19,1917 in Mount Vernon, New York. She was the fifth child of Matthew and Sarah Horan Talbot. The other children were Matthew, Julia, Margaret, and Sarah.

Today many of Sister's nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews are here to join with our Dominican family to celebrate this Liturgy. We offer to each of you our sympathy and assure you of our prayers We thank you for your kindness to Sister Dorothy during her long illness.

We also thank Father Bill Scalfidi and Father James Brady, from Saint Dominic's in Bricktown, and all of you who have come so far to honor sister with your presence today.

It was sixty-two years ago, February 2, 1940 when I first met Dorothy Talbot. I remember that night very well. The trio, who had entered that day, all from Mount Vernon, came upstairs to greet us shortly after supper. Dorothy and Florence Kerin were smiling but a little leery of us novices and postulants. Sheila Williams did not appear as she had been shown to bed because of a very severe cold. (I was one of those novices.)

Six months later, August 5, 1940, Dorothy received the habit and was given the name of Sister Mary Damian. One year later, August 6, 1941 she pronounced her first vows and six years after that pronounced her final vows, August 20, 1947.

In those early days she attended Villanova University and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education. She then traveled south to Washington, DC for several summers and graduated from the Catholic University of America with a Master of Fine Arts degree. During the course of the year she also received permanent certification in Art, French, elementary Math, and Ecumenism.

Let us briefly follow Sister Dorothy's career between the years 1941 and 1995 - a period of 54 years.
1941-1942: Mount Saint Mary, Newburgh, NY
1942-1943: Saint Rose, Haddon Heights, NJ
1943-1946: Saint Mary, Gloucester, NJ
1946-1950: Saint Mary, Passaic, NJ
1950-1955: Little Flower, Pensacola, FI
1955-1957: Christ the King, Yonkers, NY
1957-1961: Sacred Heart, Raleigh, NC
1961-1964: Our Lady of Lourdes High School, Poughkeepsie, NY
1964-1968: Holy Family, New Rocnelle, NY
1968-1970: Gloucester Catholic High School, Gloucester, NJ
1970-1985: Immaculate High School, Danbury, CT
1985-1987: Saint Dominic, Bricktown, NJ
1987-1995: Immaculate Convent, Danbury, CT - retired
1995-2002: Residential Care Units, Nazareth and this past few months Siena Hall, Newburgh, NY - retired

Sister was a very talented artist and was proud of the exhibits of her paintings and those of her art students. Some of which were in:

• The Fine Arts Department of the New Rochelle Public Library
• The Catholic Fine Arts Society at Ladycliff College at which she was awarded a Blue Ribbon First Prize for her hand hammered sterling silver ablution cup
• Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT - awarded first prize exhibiting this cup and another oil painting, "The Face of Christ"
• Her painting "Virgin and Child" was selected by the Pontifical Association Gallery in Washington to go on tour.
• Her painting of a portrait of Matthew Talbot, which she sent to Dublin, Ireland and hangs in a place of honor in the Old Folk Centre where the elderly of Matt pride in it and enjoy it.

Yesterday, in looking over the readings for today's feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, two sentences in the readings from Genesis popped out at me.

" God looked on everything he had made and he found it very good. Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested from all the work he had undertaken". Genesis 1:31 - 2:2

I felt he was saying, "Come, Dorothy, your work is finished. You have labored in my vineyard for sixty-two years. I have looked on everything you did and I have found it very good. Come, and rest with me.
Through your sufferings of these past few years, you have learned to "sit with Jesus." We have seen something taking place - we saw you being open to something happening to you - like someone opening your eyes with the attentiveness of love. We watched you surrender to your sufferings and from a distance we knew you were content to know you would soon go home. We saw symptoms of a stillness that comes from God. We saw courage, patience, and trust in the loving attentiveness to what God was asking of you.

I am sure on the evening of April 27 God said to you "I have looked on everything you did and I have found it very good. Come, Dorothy and rest with me."

Sister Anne Gilson, OP
May 1,2002

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