February 11th is the 99th anniversary of the birth of Anna Rita Sullivan, Order of Preachers: daughter of Lefty and Anna; sister to Jim, Bob and Margaret; Aunt to 19 of us and our spouses; friend to so many. Aunt Anna Rita was a Dominican nun, servant of the poor, epitome of motherhood to literally thousands of little ones, encourager of immigrants, forgiver of fools, one who loved, always and everywhere.
She was born in Chicago and died in Phoenix on August 18, 2006, in the 62nd year of her Religious Profession, surrounded by much of her family. She is buried in the Adrian Dominican Sisters Cemetery alongside Aunt Margaret.
I have such fond memories of the Aunties coming to visit us in Munster. They would drive up in their yellow Plymouth Dart and come up the front walkway with their habits flowing in the breeze. It amazed me how they confounded my dad, Big Sully, by serving refugees in El Salvador who were trying to re-establish life in a new and strange place in the early 1980s. They lived and worked in danger and it drove dad crazy not to be able to protect them.
Aunt Anna Rita, along with Aunt Margaret, served the Catholic community in Danville, Arkansas, working for ten years to build St. Andrew Catholic Church there. She educated me in nutrition when I had gestational diabetes in the 1990s, and counseled me through genetic testing when I was diagnosed with breast cancer the first time in 2004. She was so smart and so caring.
You all know 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) and that he was believed to be dead. So no one believed the fourth one.
Except Anna Rita. She met the train. And the 200 pound athlete, now seriously wounded, weighing 130 pounds, jammed down real hard with what we now know was post-traumatic stress, got off the train, hollow-eyed, alone. And there was his sister, willing to have her heart broken again on the chance that he would be there. He (and she) never forgot that, and held it like the precious bond it is, between them forever more.
Happy Birthday in heaven, Auntie. Thanks for your goodness, your example, your kindness and tolerance, and advice, and your endless love.
God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.
Love, Patty
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