Frankfort sister will celebrate 105th birthday with private brass concert

Psalm 150 tells people to praise God with the trumpet, harp, lyre, strings and cymbals.

On Sept. 2, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Frankfort will celebrate one of their own with six trombones and a tuba player.

Sister M. Anna Clare Meyer will turn 105 on Sept. 2. During that same week, Meyer will also celebrate her 85th anniversary as a Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart.

Trombonist Robert Graham, Meyer’s nephew by marriage, assembled the band of musicians for this occasion.

Graham is a former instructor at the University of Virginia and former player for the Charlottesville Symphony and Lynchburg Symphony.

Sister Joyce Shanabarger, FSSH community leader, said Meyer keeps track of her entire family and that Meyer’s ‘baby brother’ is coming from Michigan for the celebration.

“He’s 96,” Shanabarger said. “She’s very excited about seeing her baby brother.”

Because of social distancing requirements, the public is not invited.

Sister Joyce Shanabarger, FSSH community leader, said Meyer is the community’s oldest living member, but not the community’s oldest member overall.

Meyer, Shanabarger, hopes to change that.

“She has a bit of competition in her,” Shanabarger said. “We have one sister who lived to be 105 and six months. So her big goal is to live at least another six months so she can be the oldest of congregation.”

Shanabarger said Meyer grew up on a farm in Avilla, Indiana, a small town in Northwest Indiana. where the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart settled in Avilla in 1876 when they came to the U.S. from Germany.

The sisters taught at the school Meyer attended, Meyer’s introduction to the order.

Through her years with FSSH, Meyer was a cook at St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin, St. Francis Hospital and St. Vincent Orphanage in Freeport. She was also a clinical lab aide.

Even at 105, Meyer is part of community life. She talks to the other sisters and plays games like dominoes.

She helps with special ministries: stuffing Teddy bears for children in West Virginia and dying Easter eggs for clients at Daybreak Center in Joliet, Shanabarger said.

“She always says, ‘You pray for me and I’ll pray for you,’” Shanabarger said.

Meyer loves to read and keep on top of community news.

“She always wants to know what’s happening,” Shanabarger said. “She always reads everything we put out. And she continually asks questions about what’s going on. “

Meyer loves nature – especially flowers and birds – and she follows the phases of the moon and keeps track of when it waxes and wanes. Shanabarger said the moon will be full on Meyer’s birthday and not just any full moon.

“It’s the harvest moon but with the way things fall this year, it’s called a corn moon,” Shanabarger said.

Meyer mostly likes to sit in the sunroom.

“The sun’s rays soothe my aching bones, Meyer said in a news release from FSSH. “I don’t hear well, but I listen with the ears of my heart, and I have a genuine interest in others.”

Send a greeting to Meyer at sisters@fssh.net or Sister Anna Clare Meyer, 9201 W St. Francis Road, Frankfort, Illinois, 60423-8330.