Staff reporter
ASTON, Pa. – Sister Anna May McFeeley, a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 53 years who ministered in the Diocese of Wilmington for 34 of those, died Jan. 13 in Assisi House. She was 76.
Sister Anna May was the longtime principal of Immaculate Conception School in Elkton, Md., serving there from 1986-2004. She also taught at five schools in the diocese: Holy Angels, Newark (1969-70); St. Paul’s, Wilmington (1971-75); St. Thomas the Apostle, Wilmington (1975-79); Corpus Christi, Elsmere (1979-80); and St. Anthony of Padua, Wilmington (1983-86).
She told The Dialog in 2004 that she seemed destined to become a teacher while a student herself at St. Columba School in Philadelphia.
“I would get all the little public school kids and bring them into our back yard and teach them everything I learned – especially in religion,” she said.
She said her parents, Irish immigrants, had stressed school to their five children, of which she was the youngest and only girl.
During her tenure at Immaculate Conception, enrollment increased from about 180 students to more than 260. In her final months at the school, she said she didn’t want to think about leaving “my kids and my families. I’ve grown to love them so much.”
Sister Anna May, formerly Sister Marie St. Anthony, also spent three years as chaplain at St. Francis Hospital, from 1980-83.
Services will take place Wednesday in Assisi House. A wake service will be held at 9:30 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11. Burial will be in Our Lady of Angels Cemetery. Donations in her name can be made to the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, 609 S. Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014.
