When Sister Marci Zeimen first met a Santa Fe woman named Annie, the nun said she "wouldn't have given a penny" for the woman's life.

Annie was an alcoholic and unable to take care of her young son. She came to St. Elizabeth Shelter on Alarid Street in 1990, when Sister Marci first started working there. But after several years of what Sister Marci calls her "tough love," the nun, who is now 81 and retired, helped Annie get sober and find housing. Today Annie is a professional who helps other people with their addictions in Albuquerque, where she lives with her son.

Annie's is one of many stories Sister Marci is fond of telling, and she recounted it to a group of riveted employees at the shelter Wednesday morning. The nun has become a living legend at the shelter. Since she retired in 2001 and moved to Wisconsin, Sister Marci has been visiting each year. She catches up with the people she helped over the years, including Annie, and sleeps at the houses she helped them find and furnish.

"I've had the best life in the world," Sister Marci said. "I've had to do some really hard things, but there's no greater joy than seeing someone who you thought wouldn't make it make it."

Sister Marci worked for the shelter for 12 years and helped about 40 homeless families find housing through the Sonrisa Family Transitional Living Program, which she helped start. Today the program has outgrown its eight apartments on Jaguar Drive. Thirty-three people currently live there, but 150 families must be turned away each year, according to shelter director Deborah Tang.

During her visits in Santa Fe and Albuquerque this week, Sister Marci has been collecting money from the formerly homeless she helped. On Wednesday, she presented the staff at St. Elizabeth Shelter with $75, all from the pockets of people who used to seek shelter there.

"I've always had that inner gumption," she said. "I believe there's nothing people can't do. They're not hopeless. Sometimes they're helpless, but never hopeless."

These days Sister Marci has what she calls a "telephone ministry." She calls people at nursing homes and tells them jokes, she said.

She said she did nothing more than "help people help themselves," but people who worked with her say her generosity and tact when dealing with people will always be remembered at the shelter.

Maria Lopez, the program manager for the emergency shelter, said she remembers vividly the day Sister Marci first came to the shelter.

"In working with her all those years and having her return ... for me, personally, it teaches that when you give of yourself, you are never really far removed, even if you are far away," she said. "When's she's gone from Santa Fe, she's not really gone. And it's just a joy to know that for some people it's not just a job."

Contact Natalie Storey at 986-3026 or nstorey@sfnewmexican.com.