Ann Albrecht, CSJ
July 25, 1926 - May 9, 2026
(S. Thomas Borgia)
A gift to the deaf community
Sister Ann Albrecht was born in St. Louis nearly 100 years ago. Her parents, Walter Thomas and Anna (Rau) Albrecht, were happy to have this beautiful baby girl, and along with her sister, Rose, the family was complete. Since both parents were deaf, there was a concern their daughters would be deaf; gratefully, they were able to hear. Though, because there was no sound in the home, Sister Ann didn’t start talking till she was four or five. And when she started going to school, it was the other children who taught her how to talk.
Sister Ann’s mother had an excellent education, having been able to attend the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf (now St. Joseph Hearing + Speech), where she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ). Her daughters, of course, were her major concern. All the family was shy because of the deafness ... and even though the girls could hear, it was embarrassing for them to use the sign language they knew when in public with their parents. Sister Ann knew it was at a great sacrifice that her parents provided Catholic high school for her. Through matched grants, S. Ann was able to attend Rosati-Kain High School (now Academy).
Sister Ann knew she wanted to become a nun and was grateful she could get a Catholic education. Having met the Sisters of St. Joseph at Rosati-Kain and knowing how much her mother loved and respected them, she chose the CSJs. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1945, was received as Sister Thomas Borgia in 1946 and made her final profession in 1951.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Fontbonne College in 1963 and a master’s degree in library science from Rosary College (now Dominic University) in River Forest, Illinois, in 1969.
S. Ann’s 80 years of service as a Sister of St. Joseph was filled with love, service and dedication to education and the deaf community. Her first 26 years were served in Catholic schools. From 1948 to 1960, S. Ann taught at Holy Cross Grade School in Champaign, Illinois. In the 1960s, she taught in St. Louis and in Kansas City, Missouri. She was principal and teacher at St. John the Evangelist Grade School in Valdosta, Georgia, then librarian at St. Teresa’s Academy in Kansas City (1969-1974).
Born of deaf parents, Sister Ann long desired to serve the deaf community. Her extensive service in deaf ministry began in 1974 when she became the first full-time deaf minister in the Kansas City area, a ministry that stretched nearly 40 years and extended far beyond diocesan/Catholic boundaries. She headed the Kansas City, Kansas, Archdiocesan Office of Ministry to the Deaf from 1974 to 2001.
In 1979, S. Ann was appointed the first national spiritual director for the deaf in the whole country. She felt very honored and also said it helped her realize her gifts were for the use of many, and she was willing to share her gifts. Most of her life, she said she dealt with low self-esteem, so this recognition was truly a gift for her personally.
Her ministry to the hearing impaired, especially in Kansas City, was so life-giving to her. She received many awards and proclamations acknowledging her gifts. Among them, she was awarded the “Person of the Year Award” by the National Catholic Office of the Deaf in recognition for the ways she encouraged those too often forgotten to use their many gifts in service of the church.
For the next 14 years, she continued serving that community as a volunteer. S. Ann retired in 2015 and lived at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, where she continued to live out her ministry of prayer and presence.
Adapted from Sister Kathleen Karbowski's eulogy