A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Mary Ann Szydlowski, DC, was celebrated Jan. 23 at the Marian Chapel of The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. Sister Mary Ann died on Jan. 18 at The Sarah Community. She was 90 years old.
Sister Mary Ann was born March 7, 1932, in St. Louis, one of four girls and four boys born to Mary Helen (Kuciejczyk) and John Szydlowski Sr., both of St. Louis. She graduated from Laboure High School in St. Louis in 1949 and entered the Daughters of Charity in 1951.
Sister Mary Ann studied nursing at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago. In 1956, she served as a med/surgical nursing supervisor at the hospital. After earning her nursing degree from Saint Louis University in 1958, she served in supervisory nursing roles in Waco, Texas; New Orleans; and Evansville, Indiana. She served as director of nursing service at St. Anne Home in St. Louis for six years. She earned a master’s in nursing home administration at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, in 1977. Sister Mary Ann then served in nursing home administration in North Dakota and New Orleans. In 1979, she returned to Marillac Provincial House in St. Louis as a consultative retirement coordinator.
In 1987, Sister Mary Ann was the clinic nurse coordinator for Daughters of Charity Services of San Antonio. She served two years in health ministry in Angola, Africa. From 1998-2007, she was community coordinator for the Daughters of Charity in retirement at The Sarah Community; then, in 2008, she began serving in the Cook Islands, New Zealand. In 2011, she served at Holy Spirit Parish in Maryland Heights in ministry to the elderly, as moderator for the Ladies of Charity and as a food pantry volunteer. Sister Mary Ann had lived at The Sarah Community since 2013.
Sister Mary Ann is preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, John Szydlowski Jr., Theodore Szydlowski, Father Robert Szydlowski and Stanley Szydlowski. She is survived by her sisters, Jayne Szydlowski, Sister Mary Camille “Loretta” Szydlowski, SSND, and Elizabeth “Liz” Rimini. Burial was at Marillac Cemetery in Normandy.
