Anna Hope Mitchell

We tumble and bumble until......

You sort it all out

A few days before Sr. Anna-Hope made her final journey home, these words came out of her in the midst of quiet prayers and mutterings. An impromptu poem that summed up both the process of finishing her earthly journey and her relationship with Jesus.

Sr.Anna-Hope was born Anna Lisa Spahr on July 26, 1957, in Berlin, Germany to William and Barbara Spahr. Her father was in military service, and much of Anna's childhood was spent overseas. From age 4 to 5 and again from 10 to 11, they lived in Russia, an experience that would leave a lasting impression on Sr.Anna-Hope's life and faith.

At the age of 16, she had a dramatic experience of meeting God in a deep moment of need and despair that was the start of a deeply personal relationship with Jesus.

She attended Philadelphia College of Art and graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design. Her first job was in Princeton, NJ where she met Orley Swartzentruber who introduced her to the Community of Jesus where she attended her first retreat in 1979.

Over the next 10 years or so, Anna worked at Princeton University Press, married her husband, Jim Mitchell and had two children, Amy Grace and Andrew Christian. They moved to the Community of Jesus in 1990.

Sr.Anna-Hope's gift of art was a strong, stabilizing element to her life. She knew without a doubt that God had given her this gift as a means of staying very close to him. A fiercely private person, drawing and painting became a quiet communication between her and the God who had met her in her young years. Color, beauty, nature, light, all moved her and were part of this personal conversation. She worked in the pre-media/design department of Paraclete Press for many years and was very involved in the Community art guilds and programs. In the years leading to the building of the Church of the Transfiguration, Sr. Anna-Hope brought her artist’s heart to teaching classes on art history and technique to many of the Community artists contributing to the design work for the church. She contributed designs for the processional cross and tabernacle door among other liturgical pieces.

In 2017, Anna made her profession as a Sister at the Community and took the name Anna-Hope. She held on to this hope through her battle with cancer over the last six years, finding expressions of it in the words of the Psalms and her favorite gospel tunes. As is so often the case, God was working a healing process in Sr. Anna-Hope that was beyond what any of us could fully know.

Sr.Anna-Hope is predeceased by her parents and her brother, Eric. She is survived by her children Amy (Josh), and Andrew; her two grandchildren, Aiden and Danika, and her brother David (Kathy).