Sr. Thomas Marie (Georgianne) Wadowski, CSSF, of Hamtramck, age 73, religious 54 years, entered eternal life at 12:30 p.m. on April 15, 2020, in St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia.
Georgianne, born March 7, 1947 and baptized at Transfiguration Church, Detroit, on April 20, 1947, was the second daughter of George and Irene (Wojtowicz). She attended kindergarten through eighth grade at Transfiguration and high school at Girls Catholic Central in Detroit.
Georgianne felt the tug of God’s gentle call since the seventh grade and was admitted to the Felician Congregation in July 1965. At the novitiate ceremony the following year she was the given the name Sister Thomas Marie. Final Profession was in 1973.
Sister earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Madonna University and a Master of Arts from Eastern Michigan and for 19 years taught primary grades at Our Lady of Refuge, Orchard Lake; St. Hilary, Redford; St. Michael, Southfield; St. Damian Westland; and St. Michael, Livonia. Sister also served as school secretary at St. Stanislaus, Detroit. In 2000, and again in 2005, Sister was nominated and honored in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
A highlight in her teaching ministry was a project with the second-grade children of St. Damian School, Westland, to act out a commercial written for Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. The commercial took the grand prize in the Camden, N.J., soup maker’s “Bring the Campbell Kids to Life” contest. The script won out over 85 entries from second graders across the country.
As early as 1971, Sr. Thomas Marie received the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Over the years, her health slowly declined as the disease threatened more and more of her active lifestyle. Although permanently assigned to St. Joseph Convent, Livonia, in 1999, Sr. Thomas Marie continued as a library aide at Madonna University until 2009.
Sr. Thomas Marie loved the Eucharistic Lord and His Blessed Mother and even when confined to the wheelchair Sister would be present for daily adoration.
Patient in suffering, she displayed great resignation to the will of God, smiling often and without complaint as her life slowly ebbed away. She was admitted to St. Mary Mercy Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, and died on April 15, 2020.
Interment was at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Detroit, on April 21, 2020.
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