Sister M. Dolores Siomkajlo, 85
A funeral Mass was celebrated June 15 for Little Servant Sister of the Immaculate Conception M. Dolores Siomkajlo.
Sister M. Dolores died June 11 in Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception provincialate, Cherry Hill, at age 85.
Born Joanna Siomkajlo, Feb. 15, 1921 in Sielec, Eastern Poland, she survived a horrendous deportation in Soviet exile to Siberia in 1940. After the amnesty in 1941, she joined the convoy to Iran, Pakistan and East Africa. In 1944 she was stationed at an air force base in England, and in 1953 she entered the congregation in Africa.
Then, as Sister M. Dolores, she began her novitiate in Cherry Hill. After her first vows in 1956, she went to the missions in Zambia as a nurse and sewing teacher in 1957, and professed her final vows there four years later. From 1966 she served as a visiting home nurse and seamstress at St. Joseph’s Convent, Woodbridge. From 1971 to 1998, she was a devoted nurse and sacristan at St. Mary’s Catholic Home, Cherry Hill. Upon her retirement, she moved to the Provincialate.
She is survived by two sisters, Sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth Alice, in France, and Julia Szypowska, who lives in Canada; and by her nieces, a nephew and their children.
Sister’s life celebration was held June 14-15 at the Provincialate, Cherry Hill. Interment was at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Chews Landing.
Funeral arrangements were made by Ciechanowski Funeral Home, Runnemede.
Donations may be sent to the Little Servant Sisters, Siberian Missions Fund, 1000 Cropwell Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law