Lest We Forget
Sister Emilia Sosnowski, CSJP (1920-2008)
St. Joseph of Peace Sister Emilia Sosnowski (Sister Callistus), a deeply joyful, generous and prayerful woman, died October 3rd, 2008 in St. Joseph Hospital, Bellingham, Washington. Her life will be celebrated with a vigil at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 7th and funeral Mass at 9 AM on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at St. Mary-on-the-Lake, 1663 Killarney Way, Bellevue, Washington. Fr. Scott Connelly, her pastor at Assumption Parish, Bellingham, will preside at her funeral Mass.
Emilia Sosnowski was born in Fernie, B.C. on September 6, 1920, but by the time she was a year old her homesick mother had decided to return to Poland with her children. Eight years later, Emilia and her brothers and sisters came back to Fernie. Emilia went to Holy Family School, where she first encountered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. She entered the novitiate while she was still only 14, and finished high school during the novitiate before making her final vows on her 21st birthday.
Sister Emilia began her ministry as a cook at St. Teresa Residence, Seattle and St. Joseph Hospital, Bellingham. In 1949 she was one of a small group of Sisters who were sent to Mindanao in the Phillipines; she served as dietician for Phillips Memorial Hospital there until 1953.
On her return from the Phillipines, Sr. Emilia became a teacher, working during the summer months to get her B. Ed. degree from Seattle University. She taught in Mercer Island, Port Angeles, and Seattle, Washington and in Nelson and Trail, British Columbia. She served as Principal of St. Joseph School in Nelson from 1979 to 1989 and was recognized as an outstanding educator by the Nelson Diocese.
Sister Emilia retired in 1989, but her idea of retirement was to continue a very active and involved life of service. She gave two years to parish ministry in Fernie, B.C., then moved to Chilliwack, B.C. where she volunteered with the parish, holding Bible study classes and leading prayer groups, and visited prisoners. In 2007 she moved to Bellingham, where she volunteered at St. Joseph Hospital, praying and talking with the families of people in surgery. It was characteristic of Sr. Emilia’s whole life of prayer and action that even in the week before her death, when she was very tired, she spent her time bringing hope and comfort to those in the surgery waiting room.