Kauai-born Sister Mara Gandia, 55 years a Franciscan

Kauai-born Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Mara Gandia died Jan. 16 at Holy Family Convent in Manitowoc, Wis. She was 75 and in religious life for 55 years, most of them as an elementary teacher in schools in Milwaukee, Hawaii and Arizona.

Her funeral took place on Jan. 20 at Holy Family Convent. She was buried in the convent cemetery.

Sister Mara was born Anna Gandia on June 13, 1929, in Kilauea, Kauai, to Pastor and Mary Ah Sui Lum Gandia. She entered the convent in 1950 and professed her vows in 1952, taking the religious name Mara.

Sister Mara earned a bachelor of arts degree from Holy Family College in Manitowoc, the city where the Franciscan Sisters motherhouse is located.

In Wisconsin, Sister Mara taught at St. John the Baptist School, Plymouth, Sacred Heart School Manitowoc, St. Bernadette School, Appleton, and Holy Rosary School, Kewaunee. In Hawaii she taught at Cathedral School in Honolulu and St. Theresa School in Kekaha, Kauai. She also taught at St. John Mission in Komatke, Ariz.

Upon her retirement, she served at Holy Family Convent and St. Francis Convent in Manitowoc. Since 2002, she has resided in the St. Rita Health Center at the motherhouse.

Sister Mara is survived by two sisters, Mary Jane Gandia of Gardena, Calif., and Theresa Shimamoto of Torrance, Calif.; two brothers, James Gandia of Honolulu and Joseph Gandia of Roselle, Ill.; and nieces and nephews.