Sr. Anna Mary Larkin (100), a member of the Carmelite Community in Oldenburg, IN, died August 19 after a short illness. She was born in Mahanoy City, PA. After high school she trained as a dental hygienist at the University of Pennsylvania. She spent several years in this profession and then entered the Carmelite Order in 1947. The liturgy of Resurrection will be celebrated at the chapel of the Franciscan Sisters on Main Street in Oldenburg at 10:30 on September 25. The chapel doors will open at 9:30.
Sr. Anna Mary was both deeply prayerful and interested in social justice. Supported by the community, she once gave two months of her life to work in Boston at a shelter for homeless women living with AIDS.
She was an avid reader, unafraid to dive into thinkers like Bernard Lonergan, a deep and difficult Canadian theologian. She kept up on current affairs through a variety of secular and religious journals. She was conversant with Buddhist meditation and practice, and regularly read Shambala Sun, a journal dedicated to “Buddhist Culture, Meditation, and Life.”
For more than three decades she was responsible for responding to letters requesting the Sisters’ prayers for special intentions. Her letters rose to whatever occasion she was addressing; they were compassionate, often witty, sometimes included counsel on prayer or on just taking one day at a time. Some of these letters blossomed into on-going epistolary relationships that connected the lives and needs of many people to the prayers of the community.
She was very close to her family and spent time with them, sometimes as they vacationed near the seashore or traveled abroad. Her delight in this was shared with the community, offering great stories that came up and were told several times by request!
Sr. Anna Mary was pre-deceased by her parents, Anna and Joseph, her beloved brothers, Rev. Joseph and John and her sisters, Eileen Larkin and Mary Ugast. She is survived by her sister Kathleen; six nieces and nephews: Susan Coneys, (J.J.), Ann Greenwood (Tom), Fred Ugast (Linda), Tom Ugast, Eileen Hudson (Christ), Joe Ugast (Suzanne); 14 great nieces & nephews: Meaghan (David Clark), Colin Coneys, Tommy (Fariha) Greenwood, Liz Meisel (Pete), Rachel Greenwood, Frederick Ugast, Lindsay Ugast, Anna Mary Ugast, Spencer Griffin (Ryan), Kevin (Laura), Cory Hudson, Kyle Hudson, Joey Patrick Ugast, John Patrick Ugast and 7 great-great nieces and nephews: Asher Greenwood, Aidan Greenwood, Zane Greenwood, James Clark, Riley Meisel, Kathryn Hudson and Charlotte Coneys.
For online condolences go to www.weigelfh.com.