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McAnany, 92,
taught peace, rallied
against nuclear arms

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By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

Sister Anna McAnany's devotion to peace and human rights put her in a noisy crowd protesting President Ronald Reagan's Central American policies when he visited Honolulu.

It put her in Waianae classrooms teaching that peace is as personal as resolution of rifts in families and relationships and as global as nuclear disarmament.

McAnany died July 30 in Maryknoll, N.Y. at the age of 92. She had been a member of the Maryknoll religious order for 72 years. She left Hawaii in 1995 after more than 60 years in the islands.

The diminutive nun, known then as Sister Francis Regis, taught for 40 years in island Catholic schools. After gaining an advanced degree at Notre Dame University, she began a new direction of outreach and activism. She helped organize the Citizens Against Nuclear Armament and spoke out against the Vietnam War and the proliferation of nuclear weaponry.

"She was a very committed person. When she saw something that had to be done, she went and did it," said Sister Marie Rosso.

"She was convinced that Waianae was where she had to be," Rosso said.

That was the beginning of McAnany's involvement with the

Waianae Women's Support Group. It led to their creation of a peace education program, a two-week course launched on the Leeward Coast. McAnany eventually taught in other high schools. A University of Hawaii summer course was created to prepare teachers with the curriculum.

She attended the 1984 Nuclear Freeze Global Conference in Japan, and she joined non-violent protests against military target bombing in Makua Valley and Kahoolawe.

"Sister Anna was small, like a pebble of sand, and strong like a mountain," said Gigi Cocquio, creator of Hoa Aina O Makaha, an educational farm in Makaha where a building is named in her honor.

A memorial celebration will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 2 at St. Rita Church in Nanakuli.