Maryknoll, NY: Sister Anna Maria Hartman died on December 28, 2024 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She was 96 years old and a Maryknoll Sister for 78 years.

On August 23, 1928, Sister Ann Maria Hartman was born in Watertown, Wisconsin to Edminnie Schrap Hartman and George Hartman.  She had six brothers and three sisters; her sister-in-law, Marilyn Hartman and many nieces and nephews survive her.

Sister Anna Maria attended St. Mary’s Academy High School in Milwaukee, WI from 1942-1946.   She earned her Bachelor of Education degree from Maryknoll Teachers College in 1952 in New York. She attended Montclair State College and graduated in 1984 with a Master of Arts in Teaching, specializing in the teaching of philosophy for children.

She entered the Maryknoll Sisters on October 5, 1946 in Maryknoll, New York from Immaculate Conception Parish in Juneau, WI.  She pronounced her First Profession of Vows on April 6, 1949 in Maryknoll, NY and her Final Vows on April 6, 1952.

In 1953, she received her first mission assignment to Guatemala City.  Her long teaching career began as a founding member of what would become Colegio Monte Maria in Guatemala City with a kindergarten class until 1955.  She moved on to second grade, and later moving to upper primary. She moved to the Jesuit Boys School in 1964 and taught secondary English.   From 1965 to 1972, she was principal of a school in the Villa de Guadalupe area, founded by the Maryknoll Fathers.  She also did weekend catechetical work in Jacaltenango, Guatemala.  In 1973-77, she was a Parish Minister in El Salvador.

From 1982-84, while earning her Masters at Montclair State College she taught young people how to do critical thinking. She did teacher-training workshops in Chile two months of the year while working in Direct Mail at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York and then led the Philosophy for Children program until 1987, writing articles and giving seminars on the subject in Chile.

In 1988, she was assigned to Nepal and immediately began teaching in the English Language Institute (1988-1993), worked with Bhutanese refugees (1994), joined the Jesuit Formation Team for their candidates (1994-1999), and offered English workshops for teachers at St. Mary’s School and the Marianist Brothers from India (1997-1999).  Anna Maria was not only a superbly gifted teacher, she was a mentor and friend to those with whom she worked over the years, both in Latin America and in Nepal, and they never forgot her.

In 1999, Sister transferred to West Haven, CT where she taught Spanish to the permanent deacon candidates and English to many classes of adult Hispanic people in the parish until 2002.   Due to declining health issues, she returned to the Center and the Development Department’s Office of Creative Productions where she worked until 2006. From 2006 until 2014, Anna Maria was a volunteer and she worked tirelessly opening, sifting, and routing all incoming mail in the treasury department.

Sister Anna Maria moved to the Chi Rho Community in 2017 and then to the Eden Community in 2022 where she lived until her death on December 28, 2024.

Funeral Services:

A Vespers Service was held for Sister Anna Maria Hartman on Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 4:15 p.m. in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Friday, January 3, 2024 at 10:00 A.M. at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.