Sr Anne Galvin

Sister Anne (Moya Josephine) Galvin, former Home of Compassion matron, died Silverstream, February 22, 2010, aged 80.

Sister Anne Galvin was born in Brooklyn (November 12, 1929) and grew up in Seine St, Island Bay. The family home shared a boundary with the Home of Compassion.

During her childhood she was a regular visitor and determined to become a sister. She was involved in charity work from a young age. She was schooled by the Sacred Heart Sisters in Island Bay and became school captain before leaving to work as a secretary for Harrison's tea-importing company. She also enjoyed her early adult years, playing tennis, table tennis, swimming and dancing with a lively group of Island Bay friends.

In 1947, when she was just 18, she joined the Sisters of Compassion. In those days it was a convent with strict rules and even contact with her mother, who lived so close, was limited. It was only in the late 70s that the rules were relaxed to allow the Sisters to go on holidays with their families.

She was professed as a Sister in 1951 and was an excellent nursing student. Training at the Home of Compassion Hospital she passed her general, obstetric and midwifery exams with honours and was the country's top maternity nursing student. Sister Anne became a registered nurse in 1958, completed her midwifery training at St Helen's Hospital in 1962 and gained a post graduate diploma in nursing administration and teaching the following year. Her talent, character and personal skills saw her promoted to matron in 1966, a post she held till 1984.

It was a charitable hospital where some of the city's top surgeons operated, but there were no resident doctors and it often fell to Sister Anne and her staff to make on-the-spot medical calls. She had a good medical knowledge and doctors knew that if she called them after hours to attend to a patient, there was good cause.

In her sabbatical year in 1985 she had an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and studied the scriptures at Hawkeston Hall, England, and St George's College, Jerusalem. On her return she became a member of the order's congregational leadership team, which she continued to serve till 1999.

Sister Anne was involved with the Catholic Doctors Guild and worked with leading members of the medical profession. She was influential and persuasive, but largely operated behind the scenes.

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