Sr. Ann McLaughlin was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in August 1931. She was the daughter of John McLaughlin and Margaret Sheils. After attending a local primary school, she went to St. Louis Convent, Monaghan, for her secondary education which she completed with a successful Leaving Certificate.

Sr. Ann joined MMM in 1951 when she was 19 years of age. While Sr. Ann was a novice, a fire broke out in the Novitiate building in Drogheda, and she would have been one of the Sisters left homeless and depending on the hospitality of the people of Drogheda at that time. When she finished her initial formation period she was assigned to Naples, Italy, a new foundation.
During her time in Naples Sr. Ann studied Nursing and afterwards worked a year in England to be accepted on the British Register. She then trained in Drogheda in Midwifery.

In 1974, she went to Kenya, to the Turkana Desert, where MMM had originally coped with a famine situation and by then were setting up rural health centres. Seeing the need for community health education, Sr. Ann went to Nairobi and did a specialist course in Public Health in 1976/1977.

Sr. Ann spent almost twenty ears in Kenya, working mostly in Kakuma, Kipsaraman and Subukia. In 1993. She was known for her innovative ideas and the ability to carry them through and for her kindness. She returned to Ireland and began work in the Communications Department in Dublin doing promotion work and fund-raising. Her other responsibility for a time was as Vocation Directress in Ireland.
Ann was an out-going, bubbly personality, a great storyteller, and someone who was close to her family and very proud of them all. She was also very fond of her hometown, Derry.

For many years in her later life, Sr. Ann did not enjoy good health and suffered from arthritic pain. But she still managed to do some volunteer work in prison ministry and kept the books for her local community. She enjoyed games such as bingo and Scrabble.
She finally moved to Drogheda in 2017 and to Aras Mhuire Nursing Home in 2018. She enjoyed life in Aras Mhuire and received good care there. Her health further deteriorated slowly, and she was finally called home to God on January 9th, 2023. She is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, Drogheda.