Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Cecilia Wood Maryknoll Sister for 77 Years Dies

Maryknoll, NY: Maryknoll Sister, Sr. Cecilia Wood M.M., died on August 17, 2017 at Our Lady of Victory Training Center, Davao City, Philippines.  She was 95 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 77 years.

Cecilia was born in Seattle, Washington on September 17, 1921 to Catherine (Kelly) Wood and Stephen J. Wood.  She had four brothers, Francis, John, James, and Stephen.   Her parents and brothers Francis and John have predeceased her.

Cecilia graduated from Holy Names Academy, Seattle, WA in 1939. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from St. John’s Parish, Seattle, (now St. Joseph’s), in the Diocese of Seattle, on December 7, 1939 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY.  She made her First Profession of Vows on June 30, 1942 and her Final Profession of Vows on June 30, 1945, both at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.

From 1941 to 1945, she studied at Maryknoll Teachers College in Maryknoll, NY and earned a Bachelor of Education Degree; she was then assigned that same year to Kalihi, Hawaii.  In 1946 she was assigned to the Philippines where she taught at various Maryknoll elementary and high schools until 1962.  She returned to the United States and attended St. Louis University in St. Louis, MO earning her Masters in Science Research Degree and a Ph.D. in Biology-Cancer Research in 1968. Sister Cecilia was then assigned to teach at Mary Rogers College, in Maryknoll, NY from 1968 to 1971 and then taught at Columbia University School of Medicine in NYC from 1970 to 1972. That same year she continued her medical studies at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and obtained her M.D. in 1974. Sister Cecilia then did a medical internship from 1974 – 1975 at Grasslands Hospital, (now Westchester Medical Center) in Valhalla, NY.  The University of the State of New York issued her License to practice medicine.  Sister Cecilia completed her Residency in Internal Medicine at the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens, NY from 1975 – 1977.

Sister Cecilia returned to the Philippines in 1977 where she served on the faculty of the Davao Medical School from 1978 – 1983, while at the same time serving in Muslim villages and in local clinics of Davao City and environs with particular attention to disabled youth in a paraplegic center. In 1983, Our Lady of Victory Training Center was founded in Davao City and Sister Cecilia served as Director and Practicing Physician from 1989 to 2010; during that time she also supported and guided ten college students from Myanmar. Sister Cecilia retired in the Philippines in 2011 where she remained until her death.

A Memorial Mass will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Maryknoll, NY on Friday, August 25, 2017 at 11:00AM 

Sister Cecilia will be buried in the Philippines in the Maryknoll Sisters Mausoleum on the Miriam College Campus.

Sister_Cecilia_Wood-Memorial_Video_1080p from Maryknoll Sisters on Vimeo.

Sister Timothy Marie Healy, Maryknoll Sister for 77 Years Dies

Maryknoll, NY: Sister Timothy Marie Healy died on August 4, 2017 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.  She was 97 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 77 years.

Timothy was born in Hoboken, NJ on May 2, 1920 to Ellen (Weber) Healy and Martin J. Healy.  She had one sister, Virginia.  Both parents died before she was six years old and her sister predeceased her in 2006.

Timothy graduated from Mount Saint Dominic Academy in Caldwell, NJ in 1939.  She entered the Maryknoll Sisters Novitiate at the Maryknoll Sisters Center on December 8, 1939 from St. Jerome’s Parish in West Long Branch, NJ in the diocese of Trenton.  At her Reception she received the religious name, Sister Timothy Marie. She made her First Profession of Vows on June 30, 1942 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her Final Vows on June 30, 1945 also at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.

From 1942 to 1956, Sister Timothy Marie worked within the United States in various positions at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and the Maryknoll Society’s Seminary.  She studied at Maryknoll Teachers College from 1956 to 1960 where she received a Bachelor of Education Degree.   In 1960 she was assigned to Hawaii.  There for the next 26 years she served as an elementary school teacher at Sacred Heart School in Honolulu’s Punahou district.  In 1986 she returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and was assigned as the center’s Mailroom Supervisor from 1988 until her retirement in 2006.  She continued to do volunteer work among her Sisters right up until the time of her death. Sister Timothy Marie has willed her body to medical science.

A Vespers service will be held for Sister Timothy Marie on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 at 4:15 p.m. in the Main Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center.  

A Memorial Mass will be on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. also in the Main Chapel at the Center.

Sister Jane Zawadzki Maryknoll Sister for 66 Years Dies

Maryknoll, NY: Maryknoll Sister, Jane Zawadzki M.M., died on August 3, 2017 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center. She was 88 years old and had been a Maryknoll Sister for 66 years.

Jane was born in Brooklyn, NY on April 20, 1929 to Angela Wioncek and John Zawadzki. She had three brothers: Matthew, John and Joseph and four sisters: Agnes, Stella, Natalie and Carolyn.   Her parents, brothers John and Matthew and sisters Agnes and Natalie have predeceased her.

Jane graduated from Girls’ High School in Brooklyn in 1947, after graduation she worked at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as a clerk for three years.  On September 6, 1950 she entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from Our Lady of Consolation Parish in Brooklyn. She made her First Profession of Vows was on March 7, 1953 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center and her Final Profession of Vows on March 7, 1959 while on mission in Siuna, Nicaragua.

Sister Jane attended Maryknoll Teachers College and earned a Bachelor of Education in 1956; that same year she received her overseas assignment to Central America to teach. She studied the Spanish language at Siuna, Nicaragua and taught primary grades at the Siuna Mission School, from 1957 to 1961. In 1965 she was assigned to Colegio San Vicente, in Ancon, Panama until 1973.  Then moved to St. Mary’s Mission in Ancon, teaching in grades 1 to 5 and in the CCD Programs.

In 1984 she was awarded The Master Key to the Locks of the Panama Canal in recognition of her service.  She then returned to the U.S. to the Maryknoll Sisters Center to do Congregational Service in the Treasury Department for three years.  In 1987 Sister Jane returned to Las Mañanitas in Panama, a fast growing area at the southeastern end of Panama City. There she served in parish ministry, helped form bible study groups and basic Christian communities, worked with dedicated lay women and men, overseeing liturgy, catechetical program, sacramental preparation and a youth group, visiting the sick.

In 2015, Sister Jane returned to the Maryknoll Sisters Center and volunteered her services in the Maryknoll Sisters Home Care Unit with elderly Sisters, until she herself became a patient of the unit shortly before her death.

Sister Jane willed her body to medical science.

A Vespers service will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY on Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 4:15PM.

A Memorial Mass will be held in the Annunciation Chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in Ossining, NY on Friday, August 11, 2017 at 11:00AM