Updated: Sister Ann’s Memorial Service and Tributes in Her Honor
As we are remembering Sister Ann and the impact she had in creating Maranyundo, we are honored to share more about her memorial service.
There will be a memorial service on Saturday, December 16th, 5 PM, at St. Monica Catholic Church in South Boston on what would have been her 90th birthday and a dinner reception at Amrheins (80 West Broadway, Boston, MA 02127). To RSVP for the reception, please email Christine McConville at christinemcconville@gmail.com.
Read below for a collection of tributes from the Maranyundo community, family, and friends of beloved Sister Ann Fox.
To submit your own tribute to Sister Ann, click here to fill out the form at this link.
Sr Ann pursued her ideals of social justice and she was moved by the story of the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. I met Sr Ann as she was tapping into her fountains of love of mankind to create hope in Rwanda in 2003. Sr Ann thank you for listening actively to Senator Inyumba Aloysia, a Great mind like you to successfully drive the creation of Maranyundo Girls School, a source of hope for many girls and their parents and a stellar contribution to the quality of STEM education in Rwanda. I am comforted by your own words during the hospital stay " it is time to leave, my mission is accomplished". All is well. Thank you to the Benebikira congregation for their support and love during your last days on earth. May you rest in eternal peace 🙏🏽. - Kathy Kantengwa.
“First, I would like to remind my fellow Americans that we are within the 200-mile radius of the Rift Valley where our human family first walked on this earth. We can imagine that some of them once sat where you are sitting now. As we know, many years and many travels later, part of this human family ended up in America. By then our skins had lost their rich brown earth color and we had forgotten from whence we had come. So I want to remind you that you are not simply foreigners visiting Rwanda, - this part of Africa is our motherland and truly you are returning HOME. May we never forget again from whence we have come?" These memorable words were enthusiastically spoken by Sister Ann on the day we celebrated the opening of the Maranyundo Girls School. And she added: "The Maranyundo Girls School is not a gift but a beginning of an initiative". Who would have predicted better?
You are now HOME, dear sister.
You have been the SALT of this world, dear silver-hair.
Your face exudes SMILES of love and peace, dear saint soul.
May your light continue to SHINE even deeper and brighter, dear Sister Ann.
REST IN PEACE.
- Arch. Straton UWIZEYIMANA
Sister Ann probably remembers me very little but she made such a large impact on me. Her passion for Maranyundo Girls School, the Benebikira Sisters, and Rwanda as a whole is memorable and will build a legacy for generations to come. Few people have accomplished as much as Sister Ann with as much humbleness. A legend has left us. She is certainly in a better place.
- Kristin Haas
Sister Ann was relentless when it came to raising money and getting contractors to finish the building. Whew! And the amazing part was that no one could say 'no' to her! - Peg Malloy
Sr Ann was a living Saint and lived a wonderful full life. I admired her my whole life and am happy to call her my friend. She touched a lot of lives and had a zillion friends and admirers but I think very few knew her entire life story. - Tim Long
I first met Sister Ann nearly twenty years ago. We talked for three hours over coffee about the dream that she and Senator Aloisea Inyumba had to build a school for middle school girls in Rwanda and how to make that dream a reality. She called me two weeks later, told me that she had done everything I had suggested, told me that a group of women was meeting in a few days and said, “Please join us.” And my journey began. Sister Ann was an incredible connector, and that group of women ultimately made the dream possible. Over the years Sister Ann continued to make connections that enhanced the school and expanded access to education for girls in Rwanda. This past July I had the opportunity, as Maranyundo’s Board Chair, to participate in a joyous graduation at the Maranyundo Girls School and also had the opportunity to spend time with Sister Ann. Though certainly older than when we first met, she had the same spark, a delight in the success of the graduates and what she knew they would accomplish, and the same twinkle in her eye as she handed me a few articles and a list of some things she thought we at the Maranyundo Initiative should take on. Included of course, were a few suggestions about people to connect with to help make things things happen. I will be forever grateful to have been introduced to Sister Ann, and I will miss her!
- Lisa Tellekson
I’m relieved to know that she, like Paul Farmer, passed away in a place she loved where her impact was huge, and that she was surrounded by those who loved her. I’m filled with gratitude for knowing Sister Ann. She will be missed enormously by many. - Ophelia Dahl
A life well-lived, an impact deep and wide, an inspiration to so many. Your light continues to shine bright. Well done Sr. Ann! - Kaia Miller
I am comforted by the knowledge that she was surrounded by people who loved her immensely and that she had faith in a loving God. She lived a full, long life! May she now rest in sweet peace with light perpetual. - Carolina Fernandez
Sister Ann was invaluable to Maranyundo and to me in my role as Executive Director. When I first started in 2019, she invited me to her home in South Boston and we went out for lunch on Broadway. I could see her fundraising wheels spinning, and from that day on, Sister Ann called, texted, or emailed about all of her ideas about re-engaging long-time friends and bringing in new donors. I am so thankful I was able to spend time with her, both here in Boston and in Rwanda, and I will miss her! - Jessi Smolow
Sister Ann was an inspiration to us all and will live on in the hearts of all those she has touched. May she rest in peace. - Stephanie LaRoche
Sister Ann was an amazing person who dedicated her life to helping others. I was first introduced to her in late 2017 and forged a deeper connection when I traveled to Rwanda to work with the Maranyundo Girls School in Nyamata. I have been able to build relationships because of Sister Ann’s gift for bringing people together and making connections. Every one of my trips to Rwanda involved Sister Ann in some way. She introduced me to many of the Benebikira Sisters and helped coordinate visits to the FAWE School in Kayonza and the Mother House in Save. She exuded a charismatic enthusiasm for all she did, which was reflected in her deep affection for Rwanda and its people. Sister Ann will be greatly missed. - Lisa K Hussey, Ph.D.
I recently sat down to lunch with my good friends Sister Ann Fox and Danielle Fishbach, a recent Expressive Therapies alumna. Sister Ann exemplifies perfectly for me the Boldness of Love.
Sister Ann co-founded the Paraclete in South Boston to provide educational enrichment for youth; it’s a place where love abounds in the most incredible multicultural context one can imagine. Sister Ann is also the founder of the Maranyundo School for Girls in Nyamata, Rwanda; a Benebikira school for underserved rural youth, many of whom will undoubtedly follow in Sister Ann’s footsteps, embracing technological innovation and becoming advocates within their own country. Because of Sister Ann’s amazing capacity to connect people and organizations, Lesley University’s Expressive Therapies graduate students now complete internships both at the Paraclete as well as at a local School in Rwanda, overseen by the Benebikira Sisters, a Rwandan order of nuns.
Silver haired and always quick to smile, Sister Ann exudes at once a sense of sturdiness and peace. Conversation with Sister Ann is always interesting and contemporary; we often talk about the latest technological advancement she has learned about, like “RasbraryPi”—a self-contained electronic server that can function like a local library. She seems always to be pondering how it can be applied to her work with children, either at the Paraclete in South Boston, or at the school in Nyamata, Rwanda. Sister Ann is always asking the probing, pragmatic questions of how exactly we can make it work. She has a refreshingly rare combination of vision rooted in practical realities.
This week, around the world people will pause to remember and honor the million lives lost in the Rwandan genocide twenty years ago, and the millions more who were left to process the horror they survived. The Maranyundo school in Nyamata is quite close by the Genocide Memorial site. I find my thoughts returning to that place of sorrow and loss that I visited with Sister Ann less than a year ago, a place which has been left virtually untouched; originally a church, the blood stained clothing of the thousands of innocents who were slaughtered inside still sits in crumpled heaps upon the pews. Piles upon piles of human bones have been lovingly placed together in the mass grave site. The guide at the memorial is a survivor who lost his family. Sister Ann explained to me it is his labor of love to guide us through the memorial. I looked at him through the tears that had been streaming down my face, unable to stifle the excruciating pain and pounding in my heart; he gently touched my hand. “Thank you for visiting us here,” he said to me.
Rwanda is a place where Sister Ann has actively been engaged in loving boldly together with the Benebikira Sisters for decades. She was invited to bear witness to the opening ceremonies of the Rwandan Genocide Gacaca Community Courts with Aloisea Inyumba, standing alongside the Benebikiras as they ministered to and among the community. A founding member of the Women Waging Peace Initiative, Sister Ann has been a lifelong activist and advocate for the oppressed and underserved throughout the world. She was consecrated in 1974 by Humberto Cardinal Medeiros for the Archdiocese of Boston and has since that time lived and worked among the communities she serves.
Sister Ann is certainly one of the most remarkable individuals that I’ve had the honor of having as a teacher and guide. Our relationship started out being just about Rwanda, but as I sat with her at lunch the other day, I realized that she’s taught me about so much: about the capacity of questions to open doors, about tenacity and patience, of the mystery of hope, and of love in community. In her gentle and unassuming way she has taught me so very much. As we wrap up lunch with Danielle, all three of us brimming with ideas about how we can move forward some of the exciting plans we have been talking about, I realize that Danielle too has been soaking in Sister Ann’s wisdom, soaking in the boldness of love that we have been privileged to experience while breaking bread together.
- Catherine Koverola
Maranyundo also honored and celebrated Sister Ann at our Annual Maranyundo Event on Sunday, October 22nd. This year’s theme was ‘Umuryango’ which means community in Kinyarwanda. Sister Ann inspired this wonderful community of friends and family around the world to come together to support a girls’ school in Rwanda. Thank you for joining us in celebrating her legacy and if you were unable to, click here for the event highlights.
Sister Ann was buried on Sunday, October 8th, 2023 in Rwanda at the Sisters’ Cemetery in Save with a wake and service on October 7th at the Maranyundo Girls School.
Watch the service below (approx. 1 hr 25 min) to hear Sister Juvenal’s tribute and other friends and supporters of Maranyundo.
