Prayers For Vera Ann Franco

Word was received from Vera Ann Franco's sister, Anna Marie, that on March 19, Vera Ann had a stroke on her left side and is in the hospital with high blood pressure, slurred speech and facial paralysis to a small degree.  No further updates since the 20th but will post Vera Ann's progress here and please keep her in your daily prayers and thoughts.   

Update on Vera in her own words.  Sent to me on April 2, 2017

I had a small stroke on March 19...but with 4 head injuries...not really surprising...the 12 tests were hell and no report on them... used my mobile alert button...but not fast enough so I called 911 myself...two EMT women were lovely...tho my hand and arm are a mess since they cannot do IVs easily...ever on me...lost my smile...it is back but hidden in feeling sick with chronic viruses I had in 2000.

4 days in hospital then nursing home--rehab--10 days...back today in condo...home health ---.still ill....on Coumadin blood thinner...hate how it effects me...but have to go with it...cannot afford the others..at 350 a month.

Sisters of Mercy ~ Vicksburg Riverfront Mural

Dedicated:  January 17, 2004
SPONSOR:  Sisters of Mercy, St. Louis Region       

THE SISTERS OF MERCY  IN VICKSBURG: 
"A Century of Christian Service to Man and God"

The Sisters of Mercy have contributed to the health, education, and spiritual well-being of the residents of Vicksburg since the arrival of six nuns in 1860.

The Cobb House (c. 1830) became their first home and a school for 70 students.  During the Civil War, the Sisters closed the school to travel throughout Mississippi nursing both Union and Confederate soldiers.

After the war, the Sisters reopened the school and continued their ministry of nursing in the decades following, nursing the city's residents through several yellow fever epidemics. 

Their nursing contributions expanded over the years to include a nursing school and to culminate in the modern Mercy Hospital.  

The Sisters continued to expand their spiritual mission by building a convent in 1868 to house their ever-growing number of nuns, a building that is one of the best examples of Gothic Revival architecture in Mississippi.

The "Sisters School" also continued to expand with the construction of an auditorium in 1885 and an academy building in 1937.

The Sisters of Mercy have left a lasting legacy in Vicksburg.

Taken from:  Vicksburg Riverfront Murals

Civil War Talk - Sisters of Mercy

I found this link by one of my friends, Robert Allen Jackson, on Facebook of a forum called Civil War Talk about Some Of Our Sisters - Sisters of Mercy with pictures.

Sister Cecelia

He said, The Cobb House (c. 1830) became their first home and a school for 70 students. The "Sisters School" also continued to expand with the construction of an auditorium in 1885 and an academy building in 1937.
&
https://civilwartalk.com/.../some-of-our-sisters-sisters.../   (Click here to check it out)

Very First School In Vicksburg, MS!

Mississippi

In late 1860, six Sisters of Mercy, led by Sister Mary DeSales Browne, traveled half-way across the country from Baltimore to a tiny river city called Vicksburg, located near the border of Mississippi and Louisiana. Father F. X. Leray had called on them to educate the children of the city, who had no access to education – not even a public school. The Sisters opened the town’s first school less than a week after arriving.

In 1860, the Sisters founded the very first school in Vicksburg, St. Francis Xavier Academy.

Nearly two years later, the school was shuttered as Sisters and families fled into the hills to avoid the cannon fire of the Civil War. After about a month, the Sisters returned to find their former school filled with sick and injured soldiers. They immediately began providing nursing care. During the heaviest battles, the injured were removed to areas of safety and the Sisters accompanied them to continue their care.

In 1864, Mother Mary DeSales Browne returned to Vicksburg and reopened the school with 200 students and only four Sisters.

In 1878, when a particularly harsh epidemic of yellow fever broke out in Vicksburg, Mother Mary DeSales Browne took over City Hospital, where the Sisters nursed as many as 300 patients a day.
In 1943, the Sisters assumed operations of a hospital, which they renamed Mercy Hospital. During their 48 years of service, it was designated a Regional Pediatric Polio Center and treated victims of numerous natural disasters. The Sisters served there until 1991, when Mercy sold the hospital to Quorum Health Care.

Today Mercy ministers in Mississippi through the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program (MHAP) in Jackson, Mississippi. MHAP was started in 1992, at the urging of Sister Cyrena Harkins, RSM, to be a collaborative effort aimed at improving health policies, practices and funding in Mississippi, especially for the poor and needy.

(Sister Mary Cyrena Harkins was our first grade teacher in the Class of 1959)

Class of 1957~ SFXA Classmates Gathering

Gathering at Toney's recently with classmates of Sister School Class of '57 (SFXA). Left to right--Mary Nell Garvin McMaster, Shirley Farish, Paula Brichetto Noble, Mary Pat Booth Fulton, Frances Smith Jowers, Judy Hale McCollum and Linda Jones Styron.