Dominican Sister of Peace Anita Schugart, OP (87), died on September 14, 2021, at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse in Great Bend, KS.
A native of Great Bend, KS, Sr. Anita was born in 1933 to Velma Hlavaty and Fred Schugart. She entered the Congregation at Great Bend in 1954 and lived a faithful religious life for nearly 65 years.
Sr. Anita began her ministry as a teacher, working with children in Wichita and Great Bend. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Math from St. Mary of the Plains College and began a 20-year career at St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, beginning as an office worker, then moving into a position as Assistant Administrator, and finally to President of the Hospital in 1978, a position she held for eight years. During this time, she also earned her Master’s Degree in Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
After leaving St. Catherine Hospital, Sr. Anita studied a new area of medicine, this time at the Academy of Natural Healing in Santa Fe, NM. She returned to Kansas to establish the Heartland Wholistic Health Center, serving as a massage therapist, using her heart and hands to bring comfort to those in need.
She was both responsible for, and appreciative of, the peaceful, healing environment that the Center offered to those who came for treatment as well as those who worked in the Center. She ensured that this sacred atmosphere continued when she served as Director of the Center until 2015.
Sr. Anita’s many gifts were also recognized by her Congregation, and she served as General Councilor from 1970-1978 and again from 1990-1994.
In true Dominican fashion, Sr. Anita loved to learn and to study, and attended many events at our Heartland Center for Spirituality. She was committed to environmental causes as well. She enjoyed her time gardening and volunteering for and with her Sisters at the Great Bend Motherhouse.
Sister Anita was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Alvin. She is survived by three sisters, Joyce Irwin, Centennial, CO, Marilyn Grover, Olathe, KS, and Marge Widen, Concordia, KS; several nieces and nephews; and her Sisters at the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
A Vigil Service was be held Monday, September 20, and the Mass of Christian Burial was held Tuesday, September 21, 2021, both at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Great Bend Motherhouse. Sr. Anita was buried in the Sisters’ Resurrection Cemetery.
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