A funeral Mass for Sister Mary Ann Averbeck, CPPS will be celebrated Dec. 4 at St. Joseph Chapel in O’Fallon. Sister Mary Ann died Nov. 25. She was 85.
The only child of Margaret (Arning) and Leo Averbeck, she was born in Quincy, Ill., in 1932. She attended Quincy College for two years before entering the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon in 1952. When she became a novice in 1953, she was given the name Sister Margaret Leo in honor of her parents. She majored in music at Fontbonne College with a concentration in voice.
Teaching was Sister Mary Ann’s first ministry. In Missouri, she taught at St. Clement and St. John the Baptist in St. Louis, Sacred Heart in Columbia, Mo., St. Mary in Glasgow, Mo., St. John the Baptist in Villa Ridge, and St. Anthony in High Ridge. In Columbia and Villa Ridge, she served as a teaching principal. She also taught at St. Louis in Louisville, Colo., St. Richard in Omaha, Neb., and St. Mary’s in Quincy.
In 1977, Sister Mary Ann began ministering in her community’s treasurer’s office, where she served for 13 years. She was bookkeeper for St. Elizabeth Academy, and she also helped with a music class there. She soon was given the added responsibility of health insurance coordinator for sisters and lay employees.
From 1990-91, Sister Mary Ann enjoyed a sabbatical, part of which was spent at St. Gertrude Priory in Cottonwood, Idaho. There her love of music, especially chant, was further nurtured. Following her sabbatical, Sister Mary Ann served as assistant manager at Rosary House in St. Louis, as a driver and transportation manager at the motherhouse, and as a seamstress in the Ecclesiastical Art Department.
Since 2014, her ministry had been prayer and presence.
