Sister Anna Mary Derousie, SNJM
Agnes Marie

August 21, 1912–January 2, 2011 (Albany, NY)

One of the great treasures that God bestows on Religious Communities is to send them individuals whose dedicated and faithful religious lives have far-reaching effects in building the Kingdom of God. The Sisters of the Holy Names are truly blessed to have had such a sister in Sister Anna Mary Derousie, who was born on August 21, 1912, and went to God on January 2, 2011.

Sister Anna Mary became familiar with Sisters at an early age. When she was 13 years old, she left home to live in Rome, New York, at the boarding school of the Sisters of the Holy Names.  After  graduation from high school, she spent a year at home discerning whether God was calling her to religious life. On July 24, 1933, she entered the Holy Names community and began her novitiate in Canada. She professed her final vows on August 5, 1940.

What took place over the next 75 years of religious life is a story of faithful service, deep prayer, and “an apostolic zeal directed toward the formation of the minds and hearts of little children.” In her quiet, unassuming way, Sister Anna Mary followed the example of our Foundress, Mother Marie Rose, and devoted her life to teaching God’s “little ones.” In school after school, year after year, she diligently taught children to love God and themselves. She helped them develop minds and hearts in keeping with what God was leading them to do, and she imparted the skills necessary  to be successful in life. By being respectful and courteous herself, she gave her small charges a beautiful example of Christian witness. By being open to change, and accepting differences among people, she guided her students to be other-centered and focused on the needs of the world around them.

Sister Anna Mary would not have seen herself as a “mover and a shake.” She would not even have thought she was particularly gifted in any way. But she has left us with a legacy of steadfast faithfulness in doing the will of the God she loved with her whole heart. She was a beautiful example of an open, gracious, practical, caring Sister who was a wonderful  person and a consummate professional.

Perhaps the best tribute of all to Sister  Anna  Mary comes from her own words. While speaking to her nurses a few days before her death, as she was thanking them for the loving care she had received, she said: “Don’t worry. It is time for me to go with Him. My work here is finished.”  What can we possibly add to that except :  Amen!  Thanks be to God!

Sister Anna  Mary died on January 2, 2011, at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center, Guilderland, New York. She was 98 years old with 75 years of religious profession. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the Holy Names St. Joseph Chapel in Albany, New York on January 5, 2011.