Glasgow native Sr. Clarita Hackman, 86, served in Ghana, Kenya

Sister Clarita Hackman M.M.S., 86, a Glasgow native and Medical Mission Sister, died on April 12.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated for her at her Community’s North American Headquarters in Philadelphia at a later date.

Sr. Clarita and her twin sister were the last two children of eight born to Josephine and Henry Hackman in Howard County, Missouri.

After graduating from Glasgow High School, Sr. Clarita worked at her father’s business and then in Kansas City for a year-and-a-half as a steno-secretary.

She entered the Medical Mission Sisters in 1954, making her First Profession of Vows in 1956 and professing Final Vows in 1962.

She studied bookkeeping at Taylor Institute in Philadelphia before going to Our Lady of Coromoto Hospital in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she worked in accounting for one year.

She also worked in accounting at the Government Leprosarium in Kokofu, Ghana, and at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in Berekum, Ghana, for a combined total of seven years.

In 1966, she returned to the United States and went to St. Joseph’s Hospital in San Francisco, California, where she studied to be an X-ray technician.

She later earned an associate’s degree from Foothill College in Los Altos, California, before going to Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Ghana, where she worked in accounting and admissions for one year.

After spending a year teaching an X-ray course at St. Patrick’s Hospital in Ghana, Sr. Clarita served as hospital secretary at Holy Family Hospital in Nangina, Kenya, for one year. She then went back to HFH Berekum to work in the X-ray department.

Returning to Philadelphia, Sr. Clarita earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Temple University in 1977.

She went on to work as a special projects coordinator for the Nationalities Resource Center, a position that allowed her to work with the city’s non-English-speaking population.

She also did accounting and controller/management work for the Center.

From the late 1970s into the ’80s, Sr. Clarita shared her financial expertise as a volunteer and in a paid position for a variety of organizations in Philadelphia.

She also served on many committees and held positions having to do with finance for the Medical Mission Sisters.

Sr. Clarita enjoyed politics and was always current on the topics of the day. A hard worker, she was down-to-earth, ecologically savvy, and very in-tune with nature.

Her feisty and fun-loving spirit, along with her loving heart, will be missed.

An older sister, Sister Albertine Hackman C.PP.S. (1917-2001), a Sister of the Most Precious Blood, served in Russellville.

Sr. Clarita’s private burial was held on April 16, 2020.