Mary Carol Anth, CSJ
November 11, 1935 - July 1, 2024
(S. Paul Louise)
Caring, independent, dedicated
Tobias and Florence (Koenig) Anth of St. Louis welcomed their daughter, Mary Caroline, onNovember 11, 1935. Shortly after, her dad was transferred to Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1944, he received an opportunity to move the family back to St. Louis. Mary Carol and older brother, Richard, were enrolled in St. Margaret of Scotland School. After graduation, Rosati-Kain High School was her mother’s choice but Mary Carol wanted to go to St. Anthony’s with her friends. Her parents gave permission. Later on, after receiving a scholarship to Fontbonne College (now University), she began courses in business. During her first year, she changed her major to dietetics.
The thought that God might want her to enter religious life kept coming to mind. After graduating with a degree in dietetics/science and philosophy in 1957, she entered the community on Sept. 15. She received the habit and the name Sister Paul Louise on March 19, 1958. Completing her novitiate, she was sent to Minnesota, where she earned her master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Minnesota (1962) and also received membership in Sigma Delton Epsilon and Iota Sigma Pi. Completing an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio (1963), she was missioned to Kansas City, Missouri. She spent two years as a nutrition educator at Avila College (now University) as well as a dietitian at St. Joseph Hospital.
In 1965, Sister Mary Carol began her extensive career at Fontbonne College (now University), first, as a teacher and then, as department chair (1966). She was the recipient of several awards during her career. In 1968, she received the President’s Council on Youth Opportunity Leadership awarded by the U.S. Government. The American Home Economics Association chose her for the Inner-City Fellowship Award (1971). The Chautauqua Award was given to her by the National Science Association (1974). In 1987, she received the Fontbonne College Founders Day Award and the Missouri outstanding Dietetic Association Award.
Associates Gene and Kathy Schwarting share,
In addition to knowing her in the academic world we experienced her strong faith and spiritual strength when we became CSJ Associates and met regularly with her in that role.Her love for God and the dear neighbor was infused within and guided her actions.Her presence brightened the lives of all who knew her, and she will be sorely missed.
Two years later, S. Mary Carol was awarded the Fontbonne – Carondelet Heritage Award. In 2005, she received the Fontbonne University Alumni Service to the University Award. Then, in 2011, her position changed to part-time assistant director of academic advising. She retired in 2013. S. Mary Carol described her retirement as “my years to learn how to be, to reflect and be more in touch with God than maybe I have been, especially during my years of ministry.”
Associate Nancy H. Blattner, Ph.D., president of Fontbonne University, shares,
Above all, she treasured her faith in God and her life as a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet; she was grateful for her housemates ... and she dedicated her professional life to Fontbonne, its students and its mission.
By Sister Helen Oates