Sr. BrucksA funeral Mass for Sister Luanna Brucks, CPPS, was to be celebrated Oct. 28 in the St. Joseph Chapel at the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood motherhouse in O’Fallon. Sister Luanna died Oct. 11 at the age of 98.
Harriet Brucks was the third of five children of Edward and Christine (Brand) Brucks. She and her twin brother, Harold, were born in Glasgow, Missouri, on Jan. 2, 1925. Their mother died when they were 8 years old. Harriet felt that the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in Glasgow filled her mother’s place in many ways, and she decided at a very early age that she wanted to be a religious sister. She was received into the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood’s novitiate on July 25, 1943, receiving the name Sister Luanna. She professed first vows on Aug. 10, 1945.
Sister Luanna earned a bachelor’s degree at Fontbonne College in St. Louis and a master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago, both in music education. She taught at every level from kindergarten through college, though she quipped that kindergarten was a “total failure” as she only taught there one day. In Missouri, she taught at St. Peter in Fulton; St. Patrick in Wentzville; Most Sacred Heart in Florissant; Holy Innocents, St. Elizabeth Academy and Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis; St. Mary’s Academy and St. Mary’s College in O’Fallon; and St. Charles Community College in St. Peters. She also taught at St. Peter in Quincy, Illinois, and at St. Joseph High School in Omaha, Nebraska. Sister Luanna was an exacting and beloved teacher, and many of her students remained in contact with her. She particularly enjoyed directing high school musicals because it developed a deep sense of community among the students.
As her energy level decline, Sister Luanna began serving as a parish liturgist, musician and pastoral minister. She served at St. Pius X Parish in Moberly, Missouri, and at St. Peter Parish in Marshall, Missouri.
These were her words of advice for a happy life: “Get up each morning knowing that God loves you and take it from there.” Upon her retirement, she devoted herself to prayer and to reaching out in welcome to each new resident at Abbey Senior Health.
Sister Luanna was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings, Arnold (Gladys) Brucks, Mary Lou (Willis) Perry, Harold (Mary Margaret and Earline) Brucks and Marion (Fabian) Groteweil. She is survived by nieces and nephews of several generations.
Burial was to be in the convent cemetery.