Anne L. Sexton

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a gift in Anne"s honor to Saint Christopher Catholic Newman Center, 15207 Kutztown Road, Kutztown, PA. 19530. Also, the service will be Live-streamed to the church's YouTube and Facebook pages. Anne was born in Newark Memorial Hospital on August 31, 1927, the second of seven children of Arthur McCormick and Anna Mulligan McCormick. She died January 23, 2026, at her son’s home in Camp Hill. She was 98. Anne grew up in Newark, N.J., in a household of music-loving, poetry-loving, fun-loving McCormicks. She entered St. Michael’s School in first grade and was quickly skipped ahead to second. Anne was smart as a whip, but often at odds with any strict nun who objected to her talking in class – or talking back. Her father, the parish sexton, was responsible for the physical plant at St. Michael’s: church, rectory, convent and school. A cherished childhood memory was accompanying her father into the church bell tower when he rang the noon hour – and let her hang on to the bell cord as the bell tolled. A wild ride! A feisty and curious girl, Anne’s world expanded beyond New Jersey when she went on a blind date and met Thomas Patrick Sexton Jr. She was in high school then, and World War II intervened, but Tom contacted her when he returned from the war. They married in 1950 when he was a student at Seton Hall University, on the GI Bill. In 1951, a few days after Tom gave the Commencement speech at Seton Hall’s graduation, they packed for Mexico. Tom had GI credits remaining and planned to enroll at Mexico City College to study for his master’s degree. Driving to and living in Mexico City was the first of many adventures they shared. In the decades that followed, they also lived in California, Spain, Kutztown, Mt. Pocono, Florida and Lemoyne. Anne thrived and grew with each experience. She learned Spanish as a newlywed and golf in retirement. Anne’s first paying job, when she was 14, was working at the candy counter of the Bamberger’s department store in downtown Newark. As an adult, she worked for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (NJ); the Garden Grove School District (CA) teaching English to children of Mexican immigrants; and, for 14 years, the Catholic Archdiocese of Allentown (PA) as the administrative assistant to the Catholic chaplain at Kutztown State College. In her life story, which she wrote during the pandemic, Anne dedicated the book to her children and her husband, Tom. “I think of him often and always with a wonderful feeling of how fortunate I have been to be his wife, and to have him as the father of our children. I led a charmed life …” Anne is survived by her daughter Sharon (Tom Ferrick) and son Thomas (Barb); her grandchildren T.J. and Cormac Ferrick, Connor and Jacqueline Sexton (Paul); her great- granddaughter Maeve Sexton; and her brother John McCormick and sister Kathleen Helmstetter. She was predeceased by her sisters Mary, Maureen and Ellen, and her brother Arthur. She valued her many friends at Essex House in Lemoyne. At a later date, her ashes will be interred with her husband’s at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

Anne L. Sexton

August 31, 1927 - January 23, 2026