Sister Ann Maureen Murphy SHF passed peacefully into eternal life on Saturday, November 16, 2013, after a 40 year battle with cancer. She was attended during her final illness by her loving sisters, family and friends.
A proud native San Franciscan, she was educated at St. James Elementary School and Immaculate Conception Academy. She was a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family for 58 years and devoted her life to the service of the poor. She worked at Holy Family Day Home (SF) and Saint Vincent’s Day Home (Oakland) serving as Executive Director and Development Director of both institutions. Sister Ann Maureen was elected to the leadership of her Congregation and served as Vicar General. She was active in Call to Action, Loaves and Fishes (Holy Spirit Parish, Berkeley) and wherever the needy were denied social justice.
She was preceded in death by her parents Frank and Kathleen Murphy. She is survived by her sister Patricia Ann Murphy Deering, nieces and nephews Joseph, Mark (Patty), Jeanette Vance (Scott), Richard Deering (Deanna) and many grand-nieces and nephews.
Sister Ann Maureen’s commitment to service was an inspiration. She enriched countless lives and leaves a lasting legacy.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Holy Family Sisters Motherhouse at 159 Washington Blvd. in Fremont at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, 2013. (Download the directions here.)
Interment will be at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, on Monday, November 25, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.
In keeping with Sister’s wishes, contributions can be made to the Sister Ann Maureen Scholarship Fund at Saint Vincent’s Day Home, 1086 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 or to the Sisters of the Holy Family, PO Box 3248, Fremont, CA 94539.
We also invite you to post your memories of Sister Ann Maureen in the comments and take a moment to see last year’s Celebration of Sister Ann Maureen’s Dedicated Life at Saint Vincent’s Day Home’s annual brunch.
Sr. Ann Maureen was a remarkable woman. She modeled the ideal of compassion and generosity. We’ve all become larger for having known her.
Sister Ann Maureen was a wonderful friend. We met decades ago when I was on the board of the Holy Family Day school in San Francisco. When I moved east, she always kept in touch, especially on my birthday!
When I decided to be a single Mom she was very supportive. When I had some learning issues with my daughter, it was Sister Ann Maureen I sought out.
I know she will be sorely missed by young and old. My love to all of you who are feeling are feeling her loss.
Farewell S. Maureen:
You were a pioneer in so many ways. I valued your wisdom when I was starting out in my first director position, and all of the years since.
thank you
I did not really know her but she seemed the embodiment of gracious kindness. I will miss seeing her at the Corrigan Cup.
My life was graced by Sister Ann Maureen for only about a year, when I was doing some development consulting at Saint Vincent’s Day Home in West Oakland about three years ago. She was an extraordinary woman – one of the most inspiring I have ever met. By the time I worked with her she was in her mid-seventies. She had been battling cancer for decades, and was almost certainly ill with it again by that time. But you would never have known it. Daily, she drove herself from San Leandro to work at the Day Home, where she was ensconced in a lovely little office on the ground floor of the old Victorian home’s circular turret. But she didn’t stay put there. Several times a day she would trudge up the stairs to help us in the development office on the third floor, huffing and puffing, which she took no notice of whatsoever. No matter how she must have felt, she had an amazing ability to just keep going, sparkling and twinkling with that gorgeous smile of hers all the way. I never saw her use the elevator. Nope. Not once. Since then, when I’ve faced tedious, frustrating work, or I think I’m too tired to do something, I think of Sister Ann Maureen. And – inspired by her example – I just keep going. Her example will be with me always.
We will all Miss Sister Ann Maureen! She was a wonderful teacher!