Sister Francis Anita Kearns
Teaching was at the heart and soul of Sister Francis Anita's ministry as a Sister of Charity. She began her educational journey at Saint Sebastian School in Woodside, New York and for the next 54 years helped to shape the minds and hearts of countless numbers of young people in Canada and the United States. From New York, Sister Francis Anita was mission to Mount Carmen Elementary School in New Waterford, Nova Scotia and then to Saint Veronica School in Dorval, Quebec. Returning to her home state of Massachusetts in 1964, Sister Francis Anita taught at Saint Paul School in Wellesley and Saint Joseph School in Needham. Upon completing full-time teaching, for the next five years she served as the Coordinator of the then Assisted Living Program at Mount Saint Vincent, Wellesley. From 2001 until her formal retirement, the need to care for her aging mother, her ailing brother, Albert and her sister, Helen was a call to which she responded with great courage, generosity and love. But Francis Anita was no one to shy away from additional ministry activity! During these years, she also volunteered in the Religious Education program at Saint Mary Parish in Randolph, MA.