Framingham – Sister Anna Theresa Smith died Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 at St. Patrick’s Manor in Framingham after a long illness. She was 101 years of age and had been a Contemplative Sister of the Good Shepherd for 72 years.
Sister Anna Theresa was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1914, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Smith) Derham. Sister attended Mercy School in Brooklyn, N.Y. and after graduating went to work for several years for a family in New York before entering the Novitiate of the Contemplative Sisters in Peekskill, N.Y. in 1943.
As a Contemplative Sister, Anna Theresa was drawn to a life of prayer and service. Sister pronounced her vows of Profession in 1946 and lived a long and dedicated life of prayer and work in the mission of the Good Shepherd community.
For over 70 years, Sister served in various communities throughout the New York Province, in Hartford, Conn.; Garrison, N.Y.; Springfield; and Marlborough using her gifts and talents in the baking and distribution of altar breads, as well as her skill in sewing. In her later years at Good Shepherd Center in Marlborough, Sister Anna Theresa continued her life of dedication and devotion to prayer and served the community as a Eucharistic Minister as well as sacristan. Due to her failing health, Sister Anna Theresa was missioned to St. Patrick’s Manor.
Sister Anna Theresa has no surviving relatives, but leaves her loving and devoted friends, Patti and Bill McCormack and their family.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered for Sister Anna Theresa Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m., at Good Shepherd Center, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough. Visiting hours at Good Shepherd Center will be Monday, Jan. 25, from 4-8 p.m., with a prayer service at 7 p.m. Burial will follow at Mt. Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Fitzgerald & Collins Funeral Home of Marlborough (www.Collinsfuneral.com).
Expressions of sympathy in honor of Sister Anna Theresa may be made to the Good Shepherd Retirement Fund, 406 Hemenway St., Marlborough, MA 01752. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a world-wide congregation, was founded in France by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in 1835, in Boston in 1867, in Marlborough in 1964 and in Harwichport in 1993.
