Sister M. Janice Koziolek, SSND

Our beloved Sister M. Janice Koziolek, 98, died peacefully in Notre Dame Healthcare, Good Counsel Hill, Mankato, Minnesota, at 3:45 p.m. on May 23, 2018. She had been hospitalized as the result of a broken hip and entered Hospice shortly after her return to the Hill. Sisters were keeping vigil with her, and extended family members also visited during her last days. The funeral liturgy, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be held Wednesday, May 30, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel. A prayer service of remembrance will precede the funeral liturgy at 9:00 a.m. Because Sister Janice donated her body to Mayo Clinic, burial will follow at a later date. We extend our sympathy to her nieces and nephews and their families, her friends, colleagues and former students, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and SSND Associates. She was preceded in death by her parents, Theodore and Martha (Kokok Langner) Koziolek, her brothers, Alex, Paul, Joe and Stanley, and her sisters, Mary Szuwart, Hedwig Langner, Monica Ignaszewski, Martha Klocek and Angela Mosier. Another sister, Agnes, died in infancy. Sister Janice wrote multiple autobiographies which gave a good perspective of her family life and her life as a School Sister of Notre Dame. Her mother was 49 when Sister Janice, the youngest of eleven children, was born. Martha Koziolek’s first husband died accidentally, leaving her with three children. She married Theodore Koziolek, and eight children were born to this marriage. Because of her age, Martha identified closely with Elizabeth and Zachariah, and it was decided that her child would be named Elizabeth or John. And so, on September 20, 1919, Elizabeth Suzanne Koziolek was born on the family farm east of Wells, Minnesota, and baptized two weeks later at St. Casimir’s Church in Wells. Sister Janice wrote, “My good, pious mother imbued the love of God into each of her children. Dad, too, taught by his example. Evenings saw all gathered together for the usual rosary and some loved Polish hymn.” (Both parents were Polish immigrants.) In 1925, Liz entered first grade at Freeborn Elementary School. She attended St. Casimir School in Wells, a school that was run by the Rochester Franciscans, for grade three, and made her First Communion during that year. She returned to public school for two more years and then again attended St. Casimir for grades six through eight. During her elementary school years she developed a great devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux. When Liz began high school in Freeborn in 1933, she felt a strong desire to be a sister but that was replaced by other interests. “I dreamed of being an air stewardess, a nurse, a doctor’s wife, a mother, but – never a teacher, much less a sister.” Liz was involved in many high school activities and had an active social life. When she graduated from high school in 1937, she applied for nurses’ training in Rochester, but was one year too young to be accepted. She enrolled at Mankato Teachers College to prepare for acceptance. During the summer, she met Sister Robertine Lamm, SSND, who was teaching vacation school in Minnesota Lake. Sister Robertine, the first SSND that Liz met, told her that Good Counsel Academy in Mankato offered post-graduate courses to girls who wished to go to college. Liz decided to attend the Academy, boarding with a family below the Hill and serving as their live-in babysitter. Sister Robertine tutored her in subjects that would be beneficial for her nursing education. About ten weeks into the class sessions, Liz asked Sister Patrice O’Donnell if she thought she (Liz) would make a good sister. An autobiography entry continued, “Her short conversation convinced me that this was my vocation. I was going to act fast before I could change my mind.” Liz became an SSND candidate on December 8, 1937. She joined the candidates for college classes and, as a second-year candidate taught kindergarten at Sacred Heart School, St. Paul. In the summer of 1939, Liz and her classmates came together to prepare for reception into the novitiate. On June 21, because of a great need for teachers, she was asked to continue in the candidature and teach at SS. Peter & Paul, Mankato. She wrote, “The cost of discipleship was great, but dwarfed into insignificance when my father died unexpectedly on June 24.” Though she was devastated by her father’s death, she returned to the candidature and taught that next school year. In 1940, she was received into the novitiate and given the name Sister Mary Janice. The following February, she was permitted to go home because it was thought that her mother was dying. Sister Janice later wrote, “I was strongly tempted not to return to the novitiate. I believe I would have followed my instinct if Alex, my oldest brother, had not intervened. His persuasiveness and encouragement brought me back to the convent.” Her mother rallied, but died in June. Sister Janice professed first vows on July 17, 1941. Sister Janice’s SSND ministry was divided into two phases: Catholic School primary teacher and Appalachian missionary. She returned to Sacred Heart for the 1941-42 school year, and then, along with three other sisters, opened St. John the Baptist School in Mankato in 1942. Sister Janice also taught at St. Stanislaus, Winona (1946-56); St. Bartholomew, Wayzata (1956-62); St. Peter, New Haven, Iowa, where she was also principal (1962-66); St. Joseph, Cresco, Iowa (1966-73); and St. Anthony, Lismore (1973-76). She was a creative and innovative teacher, whose students often performed playlets and operettas. It was a special joy for her to prepare children for their First Holy Communion. Several of her pupils became priests or sisters. She earned a BA in education from Mount Mary College in 1954 and continued to take refresher courses during her years as a teacher. Testing her desire to be a missionary, she spent a summer in Guatemala in 1972, and came to the realization that her talents would better serve people who spoke English. During her time in Lismore, Sister Janice became acquainted with a Glenmary priest who invited her to spend the summer of 1975 in Kentucky. Sister Janice chronicled her transition from teaching to missionary in this way: “In 1976 I felt I had reached the ‘burn-out stage in the classroom.’ I was given permission and blessing to go to ‘No Priest-land USA.’ From the moment I settled in Kentucky, and later in Virginia, I knew I had arrived in the mission area of my dream. I loved the people and culture of Appalachia.” Prior to moving to Kentucky, she attended a Mission Awareness workshop in Baltimore and then spent six weeks of in-service training in mission work. For two years, Sister Janice and Sister Maria Exner worked with the people of Carter County in Kentucky. Sister Janice coordinated interdenominational Bible classes and together the sisters provided outreach to the needy. In 1978 the two sisters moved to southwest Virginia and settled in Dungannon. At his invitation, they worked with Father John Garvey in Scott County. In addition to parish work, they obtained C.E.T.A. (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) jobs in the county. Sister Janice coordinated a program for displaced homemakers. Another position had the title “Outreach Coordinator,” which she described in this way: “My job consisted in creating ways to eliminate structures that create poverty. I was available to reach out to the poor wherever the needs existed. Many times it was “band-aid” treatment. Insignificant as that may appear, it is so important to the daily life and struggles of the mountain people.” Sister Janice immersed herself in the Virginia life. Sister Maria wrote the following: “Sister Janice concentrated her energies on weatherization, housing and water projects. Her leadership in directing water development resulted in getting a community well, as well as getting water into homes and septic systems installed through grants from the Virginia Water Project.” In a special way, Sister Janice reached those with disabilities or special needs. She made it a point to “sit a spell” on the porches of residents of the hollers. When the sisters returned to Mankato in 2006, their work was covered in both the diocesan and secular press. Deeply spiritual in some of her writing, she commented, “Jesus has given me a peace and joyousness that I feel I spread to others.” She was a woman of gratitude with very strong connections to her extended family. She had the ability to make each person feel special when they were with her. In her retirement years, her failing eyesight meant that she could not do as much as she would have liked and she wrote, “I discovered that the hardest thing for me was not to be doing. I have been a ‘do-er’ all my life. And now I have to learn to just ‘be.’” Shortly after Sister Janice died, the sisters in Notre Dame Health Care prayed evening prayer and the opening hymn began “I heard the voice of Jesus say come unto me and live.” The words of Jesus were a light for Sister Janice’s path for over 98 years. May she now walk that path with Jesus and enjoy the full vision of eternal life. Sister Mary Kay Ash, SSND