Sister M. Anita O’Sullivan, IHM

Sister M. Anita O’Sullivan, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Friday, September 13, 1963, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Carbondale, PA.

She was born on March 27, 1885 in New York City, NY, and given the name Ellen. She was the daughter of the late William and Anne McMenamin O’Sullivan. Ellen’s love of the IHM Sisters was fostered in part by two maternal aunts, Sister Aquinas McMenamin, IHM, and Sister Augustine McMenamin, IHM. She entered the IHM Congregation on April 26, 1902, received the religious habit on July 31, 1902, and made profession of her vows on August 2, 1904.

Sister Anita served as a teacher at the following schools: St. John the Evangelist Elementary School in Pittston, PA, from 1903 to 1910 and 1920 to 1927; St. Lawrence Elementary School in Portland, OR, from 1910 to 1912; IHM Academy in Coeur d’Alene, ID, from 1912 to 1917; St. Joseph Elementary School in Spokane, WA, from 1917 to 1918; St. Andrew Elementary School in Portland, OR, from 1918 to 1910; St. John the Evangelist Elementary School in Scranton, PA, from 1919 to 1920; St. Ephrem Elementary School in Brooklyn, NY, from 1927 to 1934; St. Leo Elementary School in Ashley, PA, from 1934 to 1938; St. Peter of Alcantara Elementary School in Port Washington, NY, from 1938 to 1941; and St. Dominic Elementary School in Oyster Bay, NY, from 1941 to 1960.

From 1960 until the time of her death, Sister Anita was a prayer minister at the Marian Convent, Scranton.

She was preceded in death by two sisters, Annie (infant) and Margaret Rooney; two brothers, Thomas F. and James; and three half-sisters, Annie J. (infant), Catharine (infant), and Mary Ellen Mulligan. She was also preceded in death by two aunts, Sister M. Aquinas McMenamin, IHM, and Sister M. Augustine McMenamin, IHM.

She is survived by nieces and nephews, including Mary Ellen Finnegan of New York.

The funeral will be Monday, September 16, at 9:30 a.m. at the Marian Convent, with Reverend George Gearty, C.Ss.R., as celebrant. Interment will follow at St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Moscow, PA. Friends may call on Sunday at the Marian Convent.

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Archival Remembrance:

A visitor to our Marian Convent is almost certain to be told of one or many of the kind acts performed by Sister Anita O’Sullivan for the well-being of our Sisters in residence there. It was not easy for Sister Anita to “give up” her teaching apostolate. She loved school and was happiest when she was entrusted with a large class. To leave the classroom with no prospect of returning to it demanded great resignation on her part. Her first days of retirement made great demands on her; but her fine spirituality rose gradually over her personal preferences. She clearly saw that God had offered her a challenging opportunity to do good to others. Some more needy than the little ones she had taught for so long and so well. New strength came to her, and she became an angel of service to many. As a teacher, she was meticulous; the children caught some of the perfection of her fine penmanship, her insistence on form as well as on content, her care of their best interests, as she lavished on them the solicitude of her spiritual motherhood. In her last days, the sick and the aged won her loving care, and like the thousands of children she taught, they too call her blessed. May God grant eternal rest to Sister Anita who reflected His love to the little ones of our schools and to our revered Sisters at the Marian Convent.