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Annie Gritzmaker Holy Rosary Chapter
Annie was raised on a farm near Tecumseh, Michigan, by what she describes as a “Catholic, not so Catholic” family. She married her husband, Delbert, in 1955.
She worked in two Lenawee County factories, first at Faraday and then at Peerless Gear in Clinton, where she worked on making lawnmower transmission. When the factory moved out of state, she was “too young to retire but too old for more factory work,” so she got a job as a nursing assistant at Maria Health Care Center where she spent the next 15 years.
While working for the Sisters, “something just jumped at me,” she says, in the form of the Holy Spirit stepping in. “My life changed and I felt like I belonged.”
Years later, the Spirit acted again when Sister Rita Brunette asked her if she would be interested in becoming an Associate. And when she did, “I was so proud,” she says. It gave her a chance to live out her Catholic faith in a new way.
Annie’s ministry now is sewing for Sisters and helping them out in numerous other ways as well as serving regularly as a sacristan at St. Catherine Chapel.
She was married to husband Delbert for over 60 years; he passed away in March of 2016. Together they had three children (Kim, Kirk and Kris), 12 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.