Sister Anne Worcester
1929-2008
Sister Anne Worcester ended her interesting and well written autobiography, dated February 2005, by writing, "Life has been good and continues to be good. I have been so very blessed as an Adrian Dominican. Thanks be to God and to you, my Sisters."
She began by describing her heritage. Her mother, Kassie Super, was of Russian descent. When the Supers came to America, they settled in Norwich, Connecticut, where Kassie was born. Kassie's mother died at an early age. When her father remarried his new wife would not accept the children of his first marriage, so Kassie and her siblings were placed in an orphanage. Sister Anne felt that this, as well as the Great Depression, contributed to her mother's frugality. "Nothing ever went to waste … She put very good meals on our table …and did a lot of canning and jelly making. Her needs were always last, and ours were put first."
Sister's father, Hugh Alden Worcester, came from an English and French ancestry, and was born in Kansas City, Missouri. From the time he was a teenager until his retirement, Hugh Worcester worked for Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Joy, very wealthy people who owned a large estate in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. At first he took care of their cars, then became their chauffeur, and later the caretaker of their estate.
It was while he was their chauffeur, driving them to and from their summer home in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, that he met Kassie Super. She worked as a waitress in Norwich, but she and her friends would go to Watch Hill to work for the summer season. There the two met, married, and became the parents of two children, Hugh, Jr., and Helen Mary (the future Sister Anne). Helen was born on April 16, 1929, in Grosse Pointe Farms. She was named for the wife of her father's employer, and received $25 from the Joys every Christmas.
The Joys must have been very good to their employees, for they provided the Worcesters with a home on their Grosse Pointe estate, and with a cottage on the ocean in Watch Hill. Sister Anne wrote, however, that she grew up poor surrounded by the rich. She would have preferred to grow up in an area where she felt more equality with her neighbors. She wrote of an incident at Watch Hill, when she and her brother attempted to do God's work. He was four years old, and she was three.
Armed with pails, ropes, and shovels, we decided that we would dig down deep into the sand until we found the devil. We would then tie him up and throw him into the sea to drown, thus ridding the world of his evil influence once and for all.
The Worcester children attended Kerby Elementary School and Grosse Pointe High School, and learned about their religion in catechetical classes, taught by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, at St. Paul Parish in Grosse Pointe. In high school, Helen took two years of Latin, then transferred to Spanish, which became her favorite class. Her knowledge of Spanish would become useful later in her years as an Adrian Dominican. Also, during high school, she worked part-time at a Kresge Store. She wrote, "At first I was assigned to the Glass and Dishware Department. However, I was later changed to the Infantware and Record Department because I broke too much merchandise." She liked clerking in the Infantware and Record Department because, she wrote, "I could play all my favorite records while I worked."
She admired the sisters greatly, although she had little contact with them outside of elementary catechetical classes. When the idea of becoming a sister first occurred to her, she thought of entering a nursing congregation. The assistant pastor, whom she met in high school catechetical classes, suggested that she contact both the Mercy Sisters and the Adrian Dominicans, which she did; and she decided to become an Adrian Dominican. When she made her decision, he suggested that she talk to the pastor about it. The pastor was not kind to her or her mother. He asked how a girl from a public school could be a religious, and why she had not been in a Catholic school. Helen's father called the pastor and told him that his daughter was going to be a religious whether he (the pastor) liked it or not.
On February 2, 1947, about two months before her eighteenth birthday, Helen and her mother took the bus to Adrian, where she entered the postulate. Her father was ill at the time, so was not able to accompany them. With her group, she received the habit and her religious name (Sister Anne Jerome) on August 4 of that year, and professed her first vows on August 5, 1948.
Her first assignment sent her to St. Patrick in St. Charles, Illinois, where she taught fifth grade for three years. She was then transferred to St. Rita in Chicago, where she taught for three years. The following summer, as a result of study during the summers, Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian awarded her a Bachelor's Degree with a major in Spanish and minors in math and English. That fall of 1954 she was sent to Rome, Georgia, where she taught primary children for three years and also served as assistant principal. She then returned to Michigan, and taught on the primary level for two years at St. Mary in Royal Oak.
She spent the next twenty-three years either in the South or outside of the continental United States. The year 1959 found her at Holy Comforter in Charlottesville, Virginia, again as a teacher of fifth grade for three years, broken by a return to Michigan for her father's funeral in December 1961, and followed by a year at St. Joseph in Miami Beach, Florida. In July 1960, as a result of summer study, she received a Master's Degree in Education from Barry College (now University) in Miami, Florida.
In 1963 she was sent to Guayama, Puerto Rico, where she spent five years at Colegio San Antonio as a middle grade and junior high teacher and as assistant principal. She returned to the States in 1968 as a sixth grade teacher at St. James in Miami, Florida, for a year, then was transferred St. Mary in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as junior high teacher and assistant principal for a year.
In 1970 she again left the States for four years in the Bahamas as a teacher of high school Spanish and religion at Aquinas College in Nassau, then spent two years on the junior high level at Sacred Heart in Santurce, Puerto Rico. She was overwhelmed by the poverty of the people, and worked hard at becoming proficient in speaking Spanish. From then on, her ministry was with high school students and adults. She returned to the Bahamas and taught for another year on the high school level at Aquinas College and a year at St. Augustine College, both in Nassau. She also volunteered for ministry with those in prison, and enjoyed tutoring and helping them. The next four years were in Florida: a year at St. Patrick and a year at St. James, both in Miami, a few months teaching English as a Second Language to adults at Miami Dade Junior College Extension in Hialeah, and a year at St. Thomas the Apostle in Miami.
In 1982 she returned to Michigan. She had been suffering from a bout with major clinical depression and recuperated at St. Gerard in Detroit, while also tutoring in math and reading. She enjoyed being near enough to visit her mother, who died in 1983.
She then taught adults for a year in the Detroit Public School System, two years at St. Mary of Redford High School, also in Detroit, and after another session with clinical depression returned to St. Gerard for almost a year of medical treatment. The medicine she took caused her to crave sweets; and, although she was never much overweight, she joined Overeaters Anonymous. She found the twelve-step program with its spiritual aspects most helpful. She wrote of depression as "a living hell," but also as a blessing, because her struggles gave her a greater understanding of other people's misfortunes and strengthened her reliance on God's grace.
In May 1987 she went to Adrian, and lived in the Dominican Life Center/Regina Residence. She began three years of service to the Adrian Public Schools System in August 1987 as a teacher at Adrian High School in the adult education program. At that time a group of Hispanic refugees from Central America were being housed at Weber Center because of overcrowding in the facility intended for them, and she met with them daily, teaching them English as a second language.
She returned to Detroit in 1990, and ministered for five years in the adult education program of the Detroit Public Schools, and also as a substitute teacher. She then served two years as office clerk at Dominican High School. The next five years were spent as a volunteer tutor and visitor at the Ryan Correctional Facility and the Wayne County Jail. In 1999 the Archdiocese of Detroit honored her with the Juan Diego Award, an award presented to a person doing outstanding work with Hispanic prisoners.
Once again, in 2002, she took up residence in Adrian at Regina, but in January 2004 the condition of her health made it necessary for her to move into the Dominican Life Center/Maria Building. In these years she became a familiar sight in her wheelchair as she traveled from place to place on the campus until sickness took hold of her. Death came to her on May 15, 2008.
Sister Anne's wake-remembrance service was held in St. Catherine Chapel on May 18. Her brother Hugh and his wife Sheila were not able to be present, but several nieces and nephews were on hand. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, opened the service and extended sympathy and welcome to those making up the assembly. She summarized Sister Anne's life and ministry, and her last years. She also spoke of the fact that Sister Anne was an artist.
Anne had many periods of illness and several falls while here at the Dominican Life Center. She always managed to bounce back. Her heart caused her problems and, again, she overcame the odds. Early last week, she felt that she was going to die. Apparently, her physical problems had taken their toll. Anne's appetite decreased sharply and she was not able to take in many fluids. [She died] at the age of seventy-nine and in the sixtieth year of her religious profession.
Sister Mary Lisa Rieman, a friend for almost forty years, sent a fax that was read.
Sister Anne and I liked attending activities together-craft sales, movies, going out to eat, visiting the Flatlander's Art Gallery in Blissfield, watching parachuting in Tecumseh, and on and on.
The most amazing time that Sister Anne and I ever had was a week last Labor Day at our Venice, Florida, vacation spot. I could not believe how she had made arrangements, traveled there and back, went into the pool daily, went out to eat and grocery shopping, and enjoyed mostly just being in the warmth with no set schedule. Shortly after she returned to Maria, her health declined and she experienced several falls.
Sister's niece, Anne Canvasser, lauded her aunt.
What a wonderful and loving person she was! She has always been in my life and the lives of my children. She was always there at times of turmoil and trouble. When my brother was going through a time of trouble, she was always ready with a kind word and loving support. There was a time when my son was having hardships, trying to find himself. He would visit her and perhaps go on an outing with her. She saw him through that hard time.
I also went through a difficult time. Some years ago my husband was diagnosed with brain cancer, and she was there with cards and Masses. It meant a lot to him. It was interesting, because he was Jewish. While prayers were being said in the temple, they were also being said here . . . and she attended his funeral.
Sister Mary O'Neill also shared some memories.
I've loved the theater all my life. . . . I met her about a year ago, and one day she called me and asked me to go with her to a play in Tecumseh. We had a wonderful time at that play. It started a bond between us. In March of this year, she was having some trouble in writing and she asked me to write to a doctor in Detroit. There was a doctor in Detroit whose name I didn't know and for whom I had been searching. This letter was to that very doctor, and that was another bond between us.
Sister Betty Condon, a member of Sister Anne's "crowd," said in part:
Sister Anne was very talented in art. When she came here, she was taking water color painting and I went with her. I loved to go to her room. She had her water colors up there in frames. That was a real gift to me.
About five months ago she asked me to be her spiritual director. We met often, at first downstairs, then in her room. That was another gift she gave me.
Sister Anne's funeral liturgy was celebrated on May 19. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist. Sister Anne chose the readings, and two of them presented God in the image of the Good Shepherd. Father Roland said:
In her work as a teacher and in her ministry to the incarcerated, she herself was a shepherd to many. In several conversations with her, I remember well her intense social conscience. As she grew up she observed the great disparity between the rich and the poor in society and this, no doubt, contributed to it.
In her autobiography she writes, "I am, with God's grace, striving for acceptance of the PRESENT, surrendering to what IS, and living in the NOW." That is great wisdom.
As Father Roland reminded the assembly, Sister Anne has now entered into a new life that is much richer than anything we can imagine. She is now with Christ, the Good Shepherd, and with the other loved ones who preceded her into His embrace.