Recent Deaths

Sister Paula Jaworski, OSM
1918 - 2015

Sister Paula Jaworski, OSM, 96, died peacefully on April 22, 2015, at Addolorata Villa in Wheeling, Ill.

She was born on Chicago's north side on Oct. 31, 1918, to Paul and Frances (Karpinski) Jaworski and baptized Frances Victoria. She had two younger brothers, Sylvester, who became a Divine Word Missionary priest, and Thaddeus.

Her father was a shipping clerk for a company that made furniture frames, and her mother worked as a tailor before marrying. When Frances was just six years old, her mother died of tuberculosis. Sylvester was then five, and Thaddeus nine months. At a very young age Frances became the family's "mother" and had to grow up quickly. Prior to entering the convent, she worked as a babysitter and cook for a kosher Jewish family in Chicago and then in various factories, going from making Babe Ruth candy bars, to toys, to parts for fighter planes.

In the mid 1940s Frances felt called to religious life but was not sure what order to join. She consulted her brother Sylvester, who was then studying for the priesthood at the Divine Word seminary in Techny, Ill. He told her that he had heard good things about the Servite Sisters at the nearby Addolorata Villa in Wheeling. She took a leave of absence from her job to work at the Villa and get acquainted with the Sisters. Before long, she told Mother Alphonse of her desire to enter the community and was accepted.

Frances entered the Servants of Mary in Ladysmith on Feb. 2, 1947. Six months later, on Aug. 15, she became a novice and received the name Sister Mary Paula (she later shortened it to Paula). She took first vows on Aug. 16, 1948, and final vows on Aug, 15, 1954.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Mount Senario College and spent 35 years teaching grades one through five in Catholic schools in Illinois, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The bulk of those years were spent at St. Domitilla School in Hillside, Ill., where she taught for 28 years. She retired from teaching at Hillside in 1991 and then volunteered at the school for five more years.

In 1996 she moved to Addolorata Villa, where she found great joy in helping others and in serving as sacristan, Eucharistic minister, minister of care, and choir member. In 2006 she received the Caring Hearts Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago.

She was known for her infectious laugh and for the motto by which she lived: "Helping and serving others creates a happy, caring heart!"

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