ALTON — Sister Joan Ann Springman, OSU, died peacefully April 18 at St. Agnes Home in Kirkwood, Mo. An Alton native, she served many years in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

She was born on Feb. 24, 1934, at her home in Alton, the youngest of eight children of Joseph J. and Elizabeth (Valerius) Springman. She entered the Ursulines in July 1953 and professed her vows in January 1956, becoming known as Mother Mary Immaculata. She wanted to be a religious from the time she was in the second grade.

Sister Joan Ann earned a bachelor’s degree in voice from Webster University in St. Louis, and a master’s degree in liturgical music, with concentration in pipe organ, from DePaul University in Chicago. Throughout her life, Sister Joan Ann was well known for her superior organ skills and beautiful voice.

She taught kindergarten and elementary grades — and music to students of all ages — throughout the Central Province, serving in Alton, Collinsville, and Oak Park; Kirkwood, Mo.; New Orleans; and Frontenac, Minn. She also was an organist, choir director, and music and liturgy coordinator. She taught music at Marquette Catholic High School in Alton from 1973 to 1975. She was music and liturgy coordinator at Ss. Peter and Paul in Alton from 1991 to 1993 and at Ss. Peter and Paul in Collinsville from 1993 to 2001.

She was predeceased by five brothers, Jerome V., Eugene E., Gerald J., Edmund J. and Joseph J. and two sisters, Mary L. Girard and Delores T. Mills. Upon becoming the last surviving sibling in 2004, her many loving nieces and nephews considered her the glue that kept them connected through her handwritten letters, emails, religious holiday cards and birthday cards.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated April 26 at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Alton. Burial was at St Patrick’s Cemetery.

Memorial gifts for ministry to the poor may be made to the Ursuline Sisters, 353 S. Sappington Road, St. Louis, MO 63122.