A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Anastasia Wehner, SSND, was celebrated on June 11 at Thesesa Center at Sancta Maria in Ripa in St. Louis. Sister Anastasia died on May 31 at Anna House at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. She was 90.
The oldest of three girls, she was born to Elizabeth (Zuschrott) and Charles Wehner on June 21, 1933, in St. Louis. She was baptized at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on July 2, 1933, and named Mary Elizabeth.
She attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in St. Louis, where she was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. In the eighth grade, she was a companion to one of the sisters who visited the Aspiranture. Mary was so impressed with the girls and the surroundings that she asked her parents for approval to enter the religious community. They told her they would be happy to give their consent after she graduated from high school. Mary enrolled at St. Alphonsus (Rock) High School, where she again had School Sisters of Notre Dame as teachers.
Mary entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa on Aug. 31, 1950. In her second year of candidature, she was missioned to St. Mary School in Keokuk, Iowa, where she taught third and fourth grades. She was received into the novitiate on July 29, 1952, and given the name Mary Anastasia. She professed her first vows on July 31, 1953, and final vows on July 31, 1959.
She received a bachelor’s degree in history from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1959 and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, in 1967.
Sister Anastasia taught for 16 years at Blessed Sacrament School in Belleville, Illinois, and St. Bernadette and St. Dominic Savio schools in St. Louis. In 1969, she took on the dual role of principal and teacher at St. Joseph School in Farmington, as well as coordinator of religious education in some of the nearby smaller parishes.
Five years later, she was asked to serve in the diocesan Religious Education Office for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. In 1981, she was asked to develop an office of personnel services for the former St. Louis Province to assist sisters in their ministry assignments. During this time, she also served as the co-director of the newly established Caroline Hall Conference and Retreat Center at Sancta Maria in Ripa.
Starting in 1989, Sister Anastasia began a 19-year ministry as director of religious education at St. Joseph Parish in Marion, Illinois.
In 2008, she moved to Theresa Center, and after a sabbatical, worked in the resource development office as the donor relations coordinator. In 2010, she was appointed hospitality coordinator at Sancta Maria in Ripa.
As her health needs required more assistance, she was transferred to Veronica House at The Sarah Community in June 2020. She was missioned to Anna House in December 2021.
Sister Anastasia is survived by her sister Therese Jacobi, nieces and nephews and her extended family. She was preceded in death by her parents, Elizabeth and Charles Wehner, and her sister Elizabeth.
Burial was in the Sancta Maria in Ripa cemetery.
