Sister Joanne Gardner entered the Humility of Mary Community in September 1963 from St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Canton. She received her religious name, Sister Michael Ann, on entering the novitiate July 17, 1964. She professed her first vows July 17, 1966, and her perpetual vows July 17, 1972.
A 1963 graduate of Canton Central Catholic High School, where she first met the HM Sisters as her teachers, she completed her BA with a major in Comprehensive Social Studies and minors in English, Theology and Education from Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. She received a master’s degree in American Studies from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and a master’s in ministry from Seattle University in Seattle, Washington.
Sister Joanne taught at Magnificat High School in Rocky River, Ohio, and ministered as Alumni Director and Director of Tuition Assistance at her alma mater, Canton Central Catholic. Since 1997, she has served her religious community in communications, records management, and, currently, as congregational archivist. In 1997 she was first commissioned as a Lay Leader of Prayer in the Diocese of Youngstown. She is an active member of St. Patrick Parish in Youngstown.
