Sr. M. Anita Tapocik, OP

Sister M. Anita was born in 1927 in Springfield, IL to her immigrant parents, Joseph and Amelia (Bestudik) Tapocik, and baptized Anna Amelia at St. Barbara Church in Springfield. A proud Northender, she was one of 11 children. She graduated from Ursuline Academy in 1945 and joined the Dominican Sisters of Springfield in 1951, after several years working for the Illinois Secretary of State and then as a Naval stenographer in Washington DC. She made her first profession of vows in 1956.

Sister M. Anita’s aunt, Sister Hyacinth Bestudik, was a Springfield Dominican. Sister Anita credited her with influencing the congregational superior to write to Sister Anita suggesting she consider religious life. Because Sister Anita was so oriented to her tight-knit family, she found herself confirmed in her Dominican vocation in part through the loving hospitality her religious community showered on her biological family.

Sister Anita was a firm believer in Catholic education, saying “Catholic education has been good TO me and good FOR me.”

Her years of active service to the people of God began at Our Lady of Grace, Chicago, where she taught first grade. It concluded at St. Malachy, Rantoul, where for 22 years she was pastoral visitor for the parish elders. From 1954-1957, she taught grades 1-2 at St. Joseph, Bradley, while simultaneously serving as the bookkeeper for a new congregational ministry at Alfred Fortin Villa Orphanage in Bourbonnais. She served three different times in Duluth, MN, at both Holy Rosary and St. Michael schools, 1957-1960, 1965-1971, and 1992-1993. She was principal at St. Michael.

A seven-year assignment to Sacred Heart School, Redlands, CA, where she taught and then became principal, allowed her to be close to several of her family members who had relocated there. Sister Anita also taught at St. Thomas, Crystal Lake; Little Flower, Springfield; and Our Saviour, Jacksonville. She was principal at St Mary, East Moline.

The sixth-born of eleven children, Sister M. Anita was preceded in death by her infant sister, Agnes; her parents; her brothers, Joseph, Frank, Bernard, and Paul Tapocik; and sisters, Agnes Cecilia Howell and Dorothy Mohr.

She is survived by brother, John Tapocik and sisters, Mary Stankavich and Margaret “Bobbie” Doan, along with many loving nieces, nephews, grandnieces and nephews, and great-great nephews and nieces.

Visitation: 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at Aquinas Center, 1237 W. Monroe St., Springfield, IL 62704.

Mass of Christian Burial: 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at Sacred Heart Convent Chapel with Dominican Father, Robert Kelly, presiding. Wake and Mass will be livestreamed at springfieldop.org/livestream/

She will be laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Those services will livestream on Facebook @springfieldop.

Memorials to honor the memory of Sister M. Anita may be made to the Dominican Sisters Retirement Fund, 1237 W. Monroe St., Springfield, IL, 62704.

The Dominican Sisters and family of Sister M. Anita are being served by Butler Funeral Home, 900 S. 6th St., Springfield.