Dear Hearts,
August 18th is anniversary of the death of our beloved aunt, Sister Anna Rita Sullivan, Order of Preachers, a life-long Dominican nun, servant of the poor, epitome of motherhood to thousands of little ones with nothing, encourager and defender of immigrants, forgiver of fools, one who loved, always and everywhere. She and Aunt Margaret were known as The Aunties.
She was born February 11th 1923 in Chicago, and died in 2006 in her 83rd year of her life and the 62nd year of her Religious Profession, in Phoenix, surrounded by much of her family. She was the daughter of John Jeremiah "Lefty" Sullivan and Anna Conick Sullivan, sister of Sister Margaret, O. P., Bob and Jim, and Aunt to all of us.
You may recall the story of her "meeting the train" when Big Sully came home to Union Station in Chicago, after the fourth telegram saying he would arrive. The first three, over a three year period, all stated that he had been shot down (which he had each of three times) and that he was believed to be dead. So no one believed the fourth one. Except Anna Rita. She met the train.
Anna Rita had her share of physical pain and hardship--weathered it all and never, ever complained. She was a cancer survivor, but never flinched through the harrowing experience of undergoing a radical mastectomy in the late 1960s. She was incredibly intelligent in intellect and emotion.
She and Aunt Margaret are buried alongside the nuns they served with, in small groups, making an overall circle in the back yard of the mother house in Adrian, Michigan. It is a beautiful place. Thank you, Aunt Anna Rita, for a lifetime of rock-solid, never-failing goodness, kindness and sweetness.
Love, Patty
