Sister Phyllis D’Anna SNDdeN

Sister Phyllis D’Anna (formerly Sister Philip Marie)

 We remember with gratitude the life of Sister Phyllis D’Anna who was a Sister of Notre Dame for 63 years. She died at the age of 81 at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, CA.

Sister Phyllis entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1963 after graduating from Notre Dame High School, San Jose. She began her educational ministry as an elementary school teacher in Salinas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seahurst, and then spent six years as a Montessori teacher in Belmont and E. Palo Alto.

Known as Phil, a name she especially appreciated because as a combining form “phil” means love, Sister Phil embarked in 1987 on a new area of service as a staff member at the Zen Christian Retreat Center in Murphys, CA. An active part of their Living Compassion movement as a practitioner and teacher, she was an ongoing supporter of their Africa Vulnerable Children Project in Zambia.

After ten years in Murphys, she returned to the SF Bay Area and became a retreat leader and spiritual director at the Mountain View Zen Center. At the same time a third phase of Sister Phil’s commitment to mission ensued when she moved into community service for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, first as a pastoral care giver for elderly Sisters and as administrative assistant in the province offices, and then as one of the Support Coordinators for all of the Sisters living in the West.

Always a model of gentle loving kindness, Sister Phil shared that “she brought to everything the practice of living with unconditional love, seeing all of creation as God’s gift of Love. She responded to these gifts with joy, treating everything with respect while living in a spirit of unending gratitude”.

Daughter of James and Catherine Crabtree D’Anna (deceased), sister of Cynthia D’Anna, Nancy D’Anna-Schaffer, Carlo D’Anna and Michael D’Anna , along with many nieces and nephews. She is lovingly remembered by her family, friends, former students, coworkers, and Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated for Sister Phil on Tuesday, October 6 at 11:00 am in the Chapel at the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Province Center, 1520 Ralston Avenue, in Belmont, California. The burial will be held at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery at 2:30 pm on Tuesday, October 6.

Contributions in Sister Phil’s memory may be made to Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, 1520 Ralston Ave, Belmont, CA 94002 or online at snddeneastwest.org. Further information about her life can be found at https://snddeneastwest.org/sisters/phyllis-danna/