Sister Edissa Mary Szczepanski, BVM
Sister Edissa Mary Szczepanksi, BVM, 91, of Mount Carmel Bluffs, 1160 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, Iowa, died Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
Visitation, the Sharing of Memories and Mass of Christian Burial were on Friday, May 9, 2025. Burial was in the Mount Carmel cemetery.
Sister Edissa was born on Dec. 29, 1933, in Chicago to Edward and Mary (Gdowski) Szczepanski. She entered the BVM congregation on Sept. 8, 1952, from Our Lady of Angels Parish, Chicago. She professed first vows on March 19, 1955, and final vows on July 16, 1960.
Sister Edissa ministered as an elementary teacher at St. Patrick and St. Jude in Cedar Rapids. Iowa; St. Mary, St. Irenaeus, and Our Lady of Angels Academy in Clinton, Iowa; St. Agatha, St. Tarcissus, Our Lady of the Angels, and Blessed Sacrament in Chicago; and St. Augustine in Memphis, Tenn. She served as media specialist at St. Joseph in Downers Grove, Ill. and St. Eulalia in Maywood, Ill., and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Chicago, and as school librarian and secretary at Holy Name in Chicago. She also served as an administrative assistant at Wright Hall in Chicago.
“While spending retirement with her BVM sisters at Mount Carmel, Edissa shared that, ‘being a BVM is a special way of loving and brings joy, peace, and happiness to my heart and to others with whom I interact in my daily life.’” (Eulogy.)
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Edward (Elizabeth) Stevens. She is survived by two nephews, their spouses, and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 72 years.