Sister Anne Marie Stickling, 103
Sister Anne Marie Stickling, RSM, 103, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died Aug. 21, 2005, at Queen of Angels Health Center, Sacred Heart Convent.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, at Sacred Heart Convent Chapel, by the Rev. Marvin C. Salz, celebrant, and the Rev. Mark Brummel, homilist. Burial will be afterward at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.
Sister Anne Marie was born Dec. 14, 1901, in Ambia, Ind., and grew up in Greene County, Iowa. Sister was the daughter of Henry and Anna Schroeder Stickling.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Sister Mary Inviolata Stickling, RSM, and Amelia Worster; and a nephew, John Leonard Tilley.
Sister is survived by a nephew and several nieces.
Sister Anne Marie entered the Cedar Rapids Community of the Sisters of Mercy on Aug. 1, 1929, and professed perpetual vows June 24, 1935.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Teresa's in Winona, Minn. She also attended Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids; Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa; Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa; and Gonzaga University in Spokane.
Sister's first ministry was education, teaching elementary and middle-school levels of English and science at Saint Wenceslaus in Cedar Rapids; Saint Cecelia in Ames; Saint Xavier in Manchester; and Sacred Heart in Oelwein, all in Iowa.
In 1936, Sister Anne Marie began additional advanced education in the field of X-ray technology.
She served at the Mercy Hospitals in Oelwein and Anamosa, Iowa, and Kalispell General Hospital, Kalispell. Sister became the assistant director of the first School of X-ray at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. In this capacity, she also served as the main instructor at the school, teaching more than 80 students from 1955 to 1971. During this ministry, not one of her students failed to pass the National Registry Examination for Radiologic Technicians.
In 1982, she retired to Sacred Heart Convent.
In 1984, Sister came out of retirement to accept a volunteer position as parish visitor at St. Mary Church in Marshalltown, Iowa, a position she held until 1989. She also volunteered at St. Nicholas in Evansdale, Iowa. Upon returning to Cedar Rapids to retire once again, Sister became a member of the board of directors for the Catholic Worker House, where she remained an active volunteer until 1996.
Sister Anne Marie recently commemorated her 75th anniversary as a Sister of Mercy, having celebrated her jubilee July 17, 2005.
Memorials may be sent to Sisters of Mercy, 1125 Prairie Drive NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.