Sister Ann Boehm, FSE, Dies in Lowell, Michigan

April 30, 2003. Lowell, Michigan.

Sister Ann Boehm, FSE, 89, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, died Wednesday, April 30, in Lowell, Michigan. She was born on May 4, 1913 in Halder, Wisconsin, to Henry and Mary Boehm. She entered the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wisconsin, and made her First Vows in 1937. For 33 years she served in the Franciscan order's missions in Stanley, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Durand, Wisconsin and New Vienna and Carroll, Iowa, after which she became a founding member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and lived in Cicero, Illinois, Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Meriden, Connecticut. In 1979 Sister Ann moved to the Franciscan center in Lowell, Michigan where she lived until her death. A master baker, she founded Franciscan Heritage Foods, a bakery and coffee shop in Ada, Michigan, in 1980. She especially delighted in teaching persons how to bake bread. She provided hands-on individual and group instruction in the art of breadmaking and became known to many for her kind manner in sharing her knowledge and insights with others.

In her later years, Sister Ann fulfilled her life long dream of studying watercolor, and at age 85 she began a greeting card enterprise using dried flowers in unique combinations.

Sister Ann is survived by her Community, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, of which her sister, Sister Margaret Boehm, Bridal Veil, Oregon, is a member, two brothers Jerome Boehm and his wife Joyce, and Gregory Boehm and his wife Gloria, all of Muskego, Wisconsin, her sisters-in-law, Anne Boehm (Mrs. Phil Boehm) and Betty (Mrs. Francis Boehm), of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Mary Boehm (Mrs. Bernard Boehm) of Big Bend, Wisconsin, and nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Phil, Francis and Bernard, her sisters Sister Maria Boehm, FSPA, and Veronica Schwartz, and seven Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.

A vigil will take place on Friday, May 2nd, at the Annunciation Chapel of the Franciscan Life Process Center at 11650 Downes Street, Lowell, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary will be prayed in the chapel. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 3rd, at the Franciscan Life Process Center followed by burial in the Franciscan cemetery.

Gifts in memory of Sister Ann may be made toward the Art Program of the Franciscan Life Process Center.

Sister Patricia Glass, FSE, Funeral Director and Embalmer, Meriden, Connecticut, and Roth-Gerst of Lowell are in charge of funeral arrangements.