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- [S927] Obituary.
Sarah Hunt Fabacher May 20, 1907- Jan. 15, 2006
She would have been 99 in May. When she was wished a happy 98th last year, she pored intently over the inch-high letters, reading one letter at a time with her good eye. She laid the paper down and said, ?I thought I was 99.? Almost two when she arrived in April 1909 on the Orphan Train, Sarah Hunt wore a tag to identify her as #59. She was the last but one that year of the orphans from the New York Foundling to be placed with Catholic families in South Louisiana. A relative of Peter Fabacher had come to the train, but he was looking for a boy, and ?Papa? took the crying baby, soothed her, and brought her home to his wife who one month later gave birth to her tenth child, Ignatius, as Sarah and a Fabacher brother turned two. The five girls, ages 4-15, were not instantly ready for this new little sister, but by all accounts, they grew to accept her, under the firm guidance of wise parents and live-in aunts. The rough-and-tumble boys seem to have agreed with Papa, who had said at the train station, ?There?s always room for one more.? She attended the Dominican academy directly across the street from the gracious home her father built for his growing family. Then she joined the sisters where her Aunt Mamie was Sr. Mary Albert Sporl. An older
sister had joined the Ursulines, and Ignatius grew up to be a Jesuit. After Papa died while changing a tire on the way to a farewell party for Sarah?s entrance, Marie became a pharmacist, and cared for Mama until her death, then joining the Little Sisters of the Poor. The others all married, giving Sarah, now Sister Mary James, 34 nieces and nephews and many more ?grands,? to whom she was devoted. The family remained close, and faithfully attended ?Aunt Sarah,? who survived all her siblings. Sister Mary James had a gift for primary teaching. Many whose lives she touched at that tender stage remember her fondly. She taught at St. Anthony?s in New Orleans, in Reserve, Paulina, Baton Rouge, LaPlace, Hammond, Cottonport, and Independence, LA, and for six years in public school in Lizana, MS, among the poorest. See www.dominican-sisters.net/stories <http://www.dominican-sisters.net/stories> Sister Mary James, aka ?Aunt Sarah? never missed a family gathering, and had a special bond with her two younger siblings. Her Jesuit brother and her Jesuit nephew were singled out, and she was proud of the three vocations in the family of her older sister Mathilda: ?They all work with the poorest, even though they always had everything.? She affected to be puzzled by this phenomenon, though she herself cared for the poor. It ran in the family to be compassionate: Claire, Lillie, and their many cousins visited, often bringing grandchildren for kissing, and Reggie ?the Valiant? catered to her demands, shopping for her sweets, and things to share in the infirmary. She was the first of St. Mary?s sisters to live to such a ripe old age, and some think she might have reached the centenary mark had it not been for the three months Katrina-evacuation with long car trips to and from Houston. She was blessed to be alert to the end, and endeared herself to her nurses and to her sisters, as ?one in whom there is no guile.? She managed to communicate despite her reduced hearing and sight; indeed, she never lost her vision of Truth.
- [S246] New Orleans, Louisiana Marriage Records Index, 1831-1925.
Name: Peter Fabacher Spouse: Mary Catherine Josephine Sporl Age: 22 Age: 22 Gender: M Marriage Date: 17 May 1892 Volume: 16 Page: 557
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1907 - 2006 (98 years)