Sister Mary Jo Martinek
1921-2008
In her autobiography, Sister Mary Jo Martinek wrote about her family’s history. Dedicated Catholics, her grandfather Martinek’s family had come to the United States from Prague, Bohemia, and settled in Truxton, Missouri. He attended St. Louis University and became a doctor, a general practitioner and surgeon. His son, Anthony (Mary Jo’s father) was the youngest of twelve children. The Martinek sons, however, were all fascinated by the automobile, which had recently been invented. As a result, they all became mechanics.
The woman who became Sister Mary Jo’s mother, Mary Lurline Malicoat, also lived in Truxton. The Malicoats were Protestants, of Irish and English ancestry. Anthony and Mary Lurline met and married, and Mary Lurline converted to Catholicism. Anthony wanted to study mechanics at a school in Chicago, and so they moved to Chicago and eventually settled on the north side where they became parishioners of Queen of Angels Parish. After finishing his study, Anthony set up a repair business. Mary Jo wrote, “My father could fix anything—plumbing, electrical, anything with an engine.”
On August 10, 1921, a daughter, their second child, was born to them and baptized Josephine but called Mary Jo. She had been preceded by a sister, Antoinette (usually called Anne), and was followed by Margaret, Elizabeth, and Anthony, Jr. Their elementary school years were spent at Queen of Angels with the Adrian Dominicans; but, since these were the years of the Great Depression and finances were tight, they attended Amundsen Public High School. In addition to her other studies, Mary Jo took four years of business subjects.
Sister Mary Jo wrote of their happy family life. The parents sacrificed much for their children, and were always interested in hearing about what they were learning and the activities going on in school. They took their children to the museums, to Navy Pier, to the concerts, to the beach, and on picnics.
The Martineks lived on a dead end street, and the youngsters enjoyed playing in the street and in an empty lot down the street. The family visited relatives, listened to the radio, embroidered, crocheted, read library books, and talked together. Sometimes in the evenings they popped corn, made fudge, sat on the porch visiting with neighbors, or went swimming.
She wrote that her grade school years were “memorable and happy,” and listed some of the sisters that she remembered. She mentioned the fun they had with the sisters at recess time, and in taking dancing and music lessons.
At an early age she felt a desire to become a sister. At around third grade, she played “nun,” wearing two towels pinned together as a scapular and another towel as a veil. Her younger sisters and some of the other neighborhood children were her pupils.
While in the public high school, she belonged to the parish choir at Queen of Angels. When the sisters suggested that she enter the Congregation, she was delighted and immediately agreed. Her parents were a bit unhappy, because of the expense involved. She, however, offered to find a part-time job and help to raise the necessary money.
On February 2, 1939, the middle of her senior year, she arrived in Adrian and received the postulant’s veil. With her group, she received the habit and her religious name (Sister Anthony Cecile) on August 2, and professed her first vows on August 7, 1940, three days before her nineteenth birthday.
The first seven years of her teaching ministry were in Michigan. Almost immediately after profession, she was in a car headed for Detroit and Visitation School, where she taught for three years in the primary and middle grades. In 1943 she was transferred to St. Mary in New Baltimore with junior high students. There she also taught typewriting. In her autobiography she wrote:
The convent, which housed ten nuns, was a poor, rundown place, but we had lots of fun. The Schmid family lived in New Baltimore on the lake. They took us there to go swimming, ice skating, and ice fishing. I got appendicitis. There was a funeral home across the street, and I was taken to the hospital in a HEARSE.
The next five years were in Illinois with primary children, three years at St. James in Maywood and two years at St. Patrick in St. Charles. While she was at Maywood the Martinek family was shocked in 1948 by the death of Anthony, Jr., in the auto races. He was only twenty-four years old, and left a wife and small daughter. A happier occasion occurred for Sister Mary Jo in August 1949, when Siena Heights College conferred upon her a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in commercial education and minors in English and history.
Sickness had come upon her, and during the summer of 1952 she received medical attention. That year she was again in Detroit, at St. Suzanne School, once more with primary children. She wrote that one night she had trouble breathing, and was almost choking. One of the sisters heard her, and she was rushed to the hospital, where she discovered that she was suffering from asthma. “I’ve had asthma ever since.” She spent the summer of 1953 at St. Clement Infirmary in Adrian, then returned to St. Suzanne for the next year.
In 1954 she was sent to the Southwest, where she taught in the middle and junior high grades at Loretto in Douglas, Arizona, until December 1959. At that time she was brought back to Adrian as a patient at St. Clement Infirmary until May 1960. She finished the last month of that school year as a fifth grade teacher at St. Brigid School in Detroit.
The next five months were at Resurrection in Lansing, and St. Theresa in Detroit for a month each, then three months at St. Kilian in Chicago. She was then assigned to Adrian to help in the laundry. In 1961 she was again in Chicago, where she taught fifth grade at St. Kilian School until 1967. During these years, she lost her sister Marge, a wife and mother of three children, who died of a blood clot at the early age of forty-one. In 1967 Sister Mary Jo was assigned to Queen of Apostles in Riverdale, Illinois, and then she returned to Chicago to teach for two years at St. Denis School.
Her parents had moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and in 1970 she was assigned to that state as a teacher at St. Anthony in Casa Grande. Her father was ill and her parents were in need of help; so in November of that year, she moved into their home to care for them and remained there until February 1971. Her father died of kidney failure in 1972. Open placement was under way, and in 1971 she conferred with her Provincial, Sister Joan Donovan, and decided to leave the teaching ministry. She returned to Chicago, and accepted a job in accounting at Harris Trust & Savings Bank, where she served for ten years.
Her mother was now alone and in her eighties. In 1981 Sister Mary Jo returned to Phoenix, found a position in accounting at the First Interstate Bank of Arizona, and lived with her mother, who died in 1987 after a hip replacement. Sister Mary Jo left the bank in 1988. When her friend, Sister Dolores Slosar, told her about an opening for an office manager at Mona’s Country Day School in Chandler, Arizona, she applied for the position, was hired, and remained there for two years.
In 1990, with failing sight, she retired and was one of the eight sisters who went to live at Villa Serra in Salinas, California. The eight sisters also included Sister Carol Louise Hiller. At the wake, she told the assembly something about life in the Villa. “We each had our own apartment, but we managed to sit together at meals and be together during activities, both spiritual and secular.” Some of the other residents organized an evening Bible meeting, which the sisters usually attended. There were three cars for the eight sisters, and Sister Mary Jo took care of the paper work with Adrian and did some of the driving. Although Sister Mary Jo didn’t like long rides, she never missed a Mission Group meeting, no matter how far away it was.
One of the things we did together was going to a meal at a local restaurant, especially for birthdays or holidays. One such meal came about when a new place opened that specialized in BLTs. It turned out to be a hilarious experience. When our sandwiches came, they looked like our three-story Villa. Bacon was piled on. We marveled at the amount—probably a half pound. The tomato looked like a whole sliced tomato. And it looked like a head of lettuce had been put on to hide it all. We never forgot the location of that place. Sister Mary Jo would sometimes put on a straight face and ask if we would like to stop for a BLT snack.
Sister Mary Jo also served as bursar for the sisters, handled their medical expenses, and was always available to give help with making out budgets. She wrote:
We met every evening for prayer, and had daily Mass celebrated by one of the three priests (two were Jesuits and one diocesan) who were here. We were served three meals a day and had someone to clean our apartments each week and do our laundry.
During her more than eight years at the Villa, Sister Mary Jo had surgery, including a quadruple by-pass, gall bladder surgery, and laser surgery on both eyes. She suffered from macular degeneration; and in January 1999, when her doctor told her that she needed care and should not live alone, she realized that it was time to return to Adrian. When she left, she was greatly missed. The sisters had not realized how much work was involved in the care she took of their needs.
When she arrived in Adrian she took up residence in the Maria Building of the Dominican Life Center where she led a “happy and fruitful life” until her death on April 22, 2008. She was eighty-six years of age, and had been a professed Adrian Dominican for almost sixty-eight years.
A wake-remembrance service was held for Sister Mary Jo in St. Catherine Chapel on April 26. Present were her nieces: Annette Nicols, Cecile Clark and her husband Greg, Carol Paganucci and her husband Robert, and her many Dominican friends. Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, opened the service, and extended the Congregation’s sympathy. She summarized Sister Mary Jo’s life and ministry, and spoke of her last years at Maria.
Her vision continued to get worse and, due to a fall, she totally lost the sight in her right eye. She was diabetic… Heart problems that she experienced in California plagued her from time to time. On Tuesday, April 22, she had a wonderful shower and was coming into the solarium when she suffered a heart attack and collapsed. God was, indeed, merciful to her in taking her so quickly.
Sister Mary Jo’s niece Christine shared some of her memories.
Some of my early memories are praying with her. I remember my aunt’s wake… Sister Mary Jo took me in her arms at the wake, and she guided my hands in hers along the beads. It was the first time I prayed the Rosary. She was such a comfort to me.
She was very generous and talented. She crocheted and knit, and she taught me how. Every child in our family has an afghan that she made… When she taught in Chicago she visited often at our home.
She always spoke very highly of her sisters here in Adrian, and of those who took care of her. She received such excellent care here. We’re so grateful for that.
Sister Dolores Slosar also spoke.
We were very good friends, but toward the end she changed and was very different from what she had been. If she wanted attention or wanted something, she would go out in the hall and call out in a loud, harsh voice for someone to come and help her. If I heard her yelling, I’d go and tell her to calm down.
On the morning she died, I heard her in the hall. But on that morning it was not a yell. It was a gentle “Come quickly! Come quickly!” There was nothing harsh or loud about it so I didn’t do anything. Within an hour after that, I heard that she had died. I sincerely believe that she saw Our Lord and called on Him to come quickly and get her.
Sister Carol Louise Hiller said, in speaking of the years at Villa Serra:
She was a good friend, always ready to listen or converse or attend a meeting or whatever. We had much for which to love our extremely generous, cheerful, quiet, and careful Sister Mary Jo.
Sister Mary Jo’s funeral liturgy took place on April 26. Father Roland Calvert, OSFS, was the presider and homilist.
As Sister Joan said, those who loved Sister Mary Jo found her unexpected death hard to bear, but they can always remember how swiftly and easily God took her to eternity and the joy she knew in meeting the loved ones awaiting her.