The family moved in Dublin when Gaynor was 12 years old, and she completed her education in Germany.
As a teenager she felt the call to enter into a religious life, but she was reluctant to leave her family and friends.
[1] The vacant building at Harold's Cross was to become a hospice for the dying, with Gaynor appointed to oversee its establishment.
[3][4][5] Some of the first patients admitted were suffering with tuberculosis, with a staff that included a governess, a shoemaker, two servants and an older woman with the title of "roomkeeper".
Amid the thousand forms of tender mercy to which these good sisters devote themselves, there is none higher or more noble than this.
Gaynor wrote reports detailing the needs of the Hospice, its expenses, bequests, donation, and surplus funding.
[1] The Extended Care Unit at Our Lady's Hospice is named Anna Gaynor House.