Sister Barbara Richter, MSC

Sr.Barbara Richter, MSC was born February 20, 1935 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  She died peacefully at Trinity Trace Community Care Center on December 10, 2022.

Sr. Barbara is preceded in death by her parents, Philip John and Mary Sheehan Richter as well as her siblings, Philip J. Richter, Mary Richter Mone, and Alice Richter Yennie. She is survived by many nieces and nephews, of 4 generations.

Sr. Barbara entered the Marianites of Holy Cross in Princeton, NJ on September 15, 1950, and pronounced perpetual vows on March 25, 1956.  After serving for 3 years as sacristan for French Hospital in New York City while still a student, she spent 5 years teaching and directing school choirs in the New York/New Jersey area. She then served many years in Bangladesh, teaching and training teachers, before returning home to care for her mother. In 1975 Sr. Barbara transferred to the Louisiana Province where she became a reading specialist and served mainly in that capacity until 1997.

From 1997 – 2018 Sr. Barbara taught from the home she shared with MSC Associate, Joyce Nixon, in Ponchatoula, LA. She worked miracles with students with visual perception issues and dyslexia, often saying to a discouraged student, “You do not have a reading problem. You have a problem with your eyes.” Every student she worked with was eventually able to become confident and read on grade level. When teachers in Tangipahoa Parish Schools (and beyond) were not able to teach a student to read, their parents were advised to take their child to “The Reading Nun in Ponchatoula.” 

Barbara loved to cook and was anxious to share her specialties with people in her neighborhood, her MSC sisters, and her parish priest (a fellow diabetic who loved her Splenda-made sweets.) Breads and pizza were favorites of hers – to make and to eat! Sr. Barbara loved gardening and crocheting as well and kept herself very busy. She was a lover of animals and made sure that everyone she encountered knew that!

Due to declining health, Barbara moved to Trinity Trace Community Care Center in Covington, LA in the summer of 2021. The biggest struggle for Sr. Barbara at Trinity Trace was that her beloved cat, Princess, could not be there with her. She did delight in any animal that was able to visit and had a bird feeder placed outside her window so she could see them.

Barbara absolutely loved her life as a Marianite and was grateful to our God for all of her many blessings. Toward the end of her earthly life, she talked regularly about being ready to meet Jesus and to be reunited with her father. She is surely enjoying the splendor of eternal life!

To celebrate her life, a wake was held on Saturday, December 17 from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM in the chapel of Shoen’s Funeral Home on Canal St. in New Orleans, LA.  Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated at 10:00 AM in the same chapel followed by burial in the Marianite Mausoleum.