A Sister of Many Talents: Sr. Tanya Johnson, O.C.D.
Golden Jubilee
Tatiana
or Tanya Johnson was born on July 6th, in Berkeley, CA. to the parents, Walter
Johnson and Susan Harris . She was the
first-born of eight surviving gifted children.
Her family with five boys, worked creatively in outdoor projects which
gave Sr. Tanya experience in gardening, landscaping and more recently
bee-keeping. She tends our hives of bees
with devotion and has produced honey of the best quality for our use.
Tanya
from the age of six had a religious and missionary spirit which moved her to desire
the consecrated life. Though she
frequently went to daily Mass with her mother at a nearby Carmel, she first spent
some time with the Maryknoll
Sisters before coming to Carmel of the Assumption in Latrobe, PA. in 1962.
When she arrived in Latrobe, she immediately used her skills to help
clear some of the grounds near our entrance, cutting trees, removing cement
work and planting bushes. Sr. Tanya
enjoys working outdoors and providing us with food from a large vegetable and
fruit garden, but that work is only a portion of her contribution to our
community life. She has great devotion
to Our Blessed Mother and skillfully makes Rosaries to sell in our store. Formerly she engaged in artwork for which she
is also talented. Sr. Tanya painted the
images of the Way of the Cross which are hanging in our Chapel and used for
Lenten devotions of the Stations.
Sr. Tanya’s indoor work in the
monastery has been packing Altar Breads which we formerly baked but now
distribute to our Diocesan parishes and to other parishes in nearby States. Her
times of cooking for the community bring forth delicious new recipes, the
fruits of her creativity. There seems to
be no end to her interests and the abilities God has given her in so many
creative ways.
Other
interests Sr. Tanya has had for many years are archeology and genealogy, most
likely influenced by her mother who shared the same fields of interest. Sr. Tanya has retrieved much data regarding
the Johnson and Harris families. She
also has a small collection of archeological artifacts.
We
are blessed with a very gifted Sister whose work in community covers many
fields. As we celebrate these fifty
years of Sr. Tanya’s profession as a Carmelite, we give thanks to God who has
graced her with a call to prayer and service to which she has been faithful and
continues to flourish in many ways. Her
fidelity to God and to our Queen of Carmel is manifest in her generosity and
self-giving love.
We
celebrate God’s infinite mercy in giving Sr. Tanya 50 years of profession as a
Carmelite Nun. With a public celebration
of the Eucharist in August followed by a reception, we join her in offering
thanks to God and in praising God’s goodness to her and to our community. May Sr. Tanya have many more joyous and
fruitful years ahead, all to the glory of God!
