With her siblings and cousins at a 1926 family gathering, Anita (far right) was the eldest child in her extended family.
Summer excursions were frequent activities for the Caspary family. Pictured below in a 1928 photo are from left to right: her brother Gerard, Grandmother Caspary, sister Marion, Anita, younger brother Gilbert (with cap), two cousins, her sister Gretchen (standing front) and her sister Ursula (standing far right).
One of four daughters and two sons, Anita Caspary was born in Herrick, South Dakota, to a German-Catholic family. Her parents, Jacob Caspary and Marie Bruch moved the family to Los Angeles in 1917. Family life revolved around their local parish, St. Joseph 's Church. The Caspary participation in parish life was nurtured and influenced by the Franciscan spirit of family and faith. After Anita graduated from Catholic Girls High School, (later Bishop Conaty) in Los Angeles, she attended Immaculate Heart College where she developed her interest in the arts and earned her B.A. in English in 1936.
The following quotations are from Anita’s book, Witness to Integrity: The Crisis of the Immaculate Heart Community of California (2003)
The following quotations are from Anita’s book, Witness to Integrity: The Crisis of the Immaculate Heart Community of California (2003)
“Anyone observing me as a child would hardly have visualized me in the role of a mother general of a Catholic religious order of women, much less the leader of a band of independent women doing battle with a cardinal.”
Anita, age 18 months
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Anita, age 3
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Anita, age 5
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"My mother’s elaborate preparation for each child’s First Communion…the pride she took in our proper clothing for innumerable processions, her insistence on special prayers we said together for special feast days—all were affirmations of the atmosphere at school and church."
Anita dressed for First Communion
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Anita, age 10
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Anita, age 17
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Caspary family outing: Anita (age 10) in front row next to her father, Jacob Caspary (first man on the left with hat). Marie Caspary her mother third row second woman from the right.
"We were neither fanatical nor puritanical; feast days as well as birthdays
were celebrated royally. On Sundays there were trips to the beach or mountains
with frequent stops for sweets or fruit."
were celebrated royally. On Sundays there were trips to the beach or mountains
with frequent stops for sweets or fruit."
Caspary was in the Immaculate Heart College class of 1936, valedictorian, sodality leader, editor of Tower Tattler, the IHC newspaper.
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"Through my high school years I studied with persistence and arrived at graduation as valedictorian with the choice of college facing me. I had been intrigued by my visit to Immaculate Heart College in the Hollywood Hills. Almost without my realizing it in my college years, I was growing closer to the Immaculate Heart Sisters….I can trace how they shared the thrust into the future, the exhilaration and optimism marking the rapidly growing city of Los Angeles." |