One July, a godsend sent her into a long, significant vocation
Dillenschneider_Grace Anne
Sr. Grace Anne Dillenschneider remembered as a brilliant, gentle, compassionate leader
By Tom Maguire
Associate editor
God knew the need of his future “Nun with the Bun.”
Sister Grace Anne Dillenschneider, OSF, the former Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Syracuse and a longtime leader in educational and congregational roles, died July 28, 2023, at the age of 83.
“Everybody knew Sister Grace for her bun. She always had her hair back in a bun,” recalled Beth Hoey, the executive director of the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse.
Sister Grace Anne came from Camden, N.J., to Syracuse at the age of 16. In an essay about her early days and experiences, she wrote that she realized her call to the Franciscan Sisters, so she wrote to and was accepted by Mother Carmella.
She wrote that she did not have enough money for the required $100 dowry. “But God provided — as always in her experience,” eulogized her very good friend Sister Rose Raymond Wagner.
And this is how God solved it: “Every week,” Sister Grace Anne wrote, “my mother played BINGO and would occasionally come home with small amounts but one July she came home with ten ten-dollar-bills! God’s ways are strange, but oh, so right!”
The funeral for Sister Grace Anne was held Aug. 4 at the Franciscan Villa in Liverpool.
The ‘Annies’
Grace Anne was the second oldest of six Dillenschneider sisters — each with the middle name of Anne — “and if you saw one, it seems, you saw them all,” according to Sister Rose Raymond’s written eulogy. “They bore a special physical likeness to each other and were known affectionately as the ‘Annies.’”
According to her obituary:
Sister Grace Anne began her ministry as a teacher at St. James School in Syracuse and went on to teach at St. Therese in Syracuse and St. Peter in Utica. Sister’s leadership skills were soon noted, and she served as Principal at St. Joseph School in Camden and St. Peter in Riverside, N.J.
In 1991, Sister was elected to lead her community and served for eight years. She next ministered as Vice President of Mission at St. Joseph Hospital in Syracuse while also serving as Administrator of Wilson Convent, where she cared for the senior Sisters.
In 2003, Sister was again elected to Community Service as the General Minister for the Sisters of St. Francis as the community transitioned into a new future. When the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities was formed in 2004 by the union of several communities of Franciscan women, Sister Grace Anne was elected Assistant General Minister.
Other ministries in which Sister served included Vice Postulator for the Cause of Mother Marianne to Sainthood, Co-Director for Franciscan Collaborative Ministries and Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Syracuse. Lastly, Sister moved to the Franciscan Villa, where she continued as a Prayer Minister.
Sister Grace Anne will be remembered for her significant influence on community life; compassion; love of God’s creatures; and quiet, joyful ways of encouraging others.
‘Not a song she could not sing!’
As Sister Grace Anne’s health diminished, Sister Rose Raymond wrote, “she was unable to communicate through speech, but she maintained her beautiful way of communicating her love and there was not a song she could not sing!”
“She was a brilliant woman, and very, very fair,” the Foundation’s Hoey recalled. “She was very just as a leader, considering everybody; and as a leader of the Sisters of St. Francis, she also was a leader for different Franciscan ministries. And people respected her very much. … She also had a great sense of humor, and liked to have fun and liked to sing.”
Sister Rose Raymond quoted other Sisters’ comments about Sister Grace Anne:
• “Always professional, well-spoken, gentle and kind — always a lady, approachable and concerned for the welfare of our sisters, especially the elderly.”
• “Grace had a queenly bearing.”
• “Always welcoming, sweet, precious — treated me as if I were her best friend.”
• “Her gentle, calming presence helped me through some difficult times.”
• “In the last months of her life, she chatted away as if telling a great story. One day I was in Nativity and Grace was pointing out into the garden and telling her sisters a great story. She was very happy talking and singing.”
The current Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Syracuse, Sister Katie Eiffe, CSJ, remembered Sister Grace Anne in an email:
“She served her community as Minister General, and as Vice-Postulator for the cause for canonization of St. Marianne Cope; she served the Diocese as Vicar for Religious, and she served the Lord and the Church as a Sister of St. Francis … all with a gentle and generous heart, living both the spirit of St. Francis and the call to discipleship as a follower of Jesus. She was a great woman of faith!”
