Sister MARY ANASTASIA BURNS, PBVM

BURNS, SCHMITT

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 5/1/2003 at 21:26:48

Sister Mary Anastasia Burns, PBVM

Telegraph Herald - Sunday, April 20, 2003

Sister Mary Anastasia Burns, PBVM, 90, of Mount Loretto Motherhouse, died Tuesday morning, April 15, 2003, at Mount Loretto Motherhouse.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Loretto. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Key West, Iowa. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at Mount Loretto, where there will be a wake service at 7 p.m. The Hoffmann-Schneider Funeral Home, 1640 Main St., is in charge of arrangements.

She was born on Sept. 30, 1912, in Peosta, Iowa, daughter of William and Margaret Burns.

She entered the Sisters of the Presentation in February 1939, and professed her perpetual vows on July 31, 1944.

She received her bachelor of arts degree from the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minn., and her Master's degree from Loras College, Dubuque.

Her teaching and librarian career, spanning 44 years, took her to Charles City, Waukon and Dubuque, Iowa (St. Columbkille's). Sister Anastasia did historical research and writing for the Wahlert Memorial Library at Loras College, as well as the Wahlert High School Library in Dubuque, and the Mount Loretto Archives before she retired to Mount Loretto Motherhouse in 1983.

After her retirement, she continued to work with the archives, volunteered at Dubuque Health Care and taught religion at ARC in Dubuque. She continued with community service and prayer until her death.

Surviving are many nieces and nephews; and the Sisters of the Presentation, with whom she shared her life for 63 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Margaret (Paul) Schmitt and Mary Elizabeth Burns; and a brother, William Burns.