Sister Emily Gezich

Visitation:
Friday, February 16 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. & Saturday, February 17 from 9:30-10:30 a.m., Community Room at Providence Heights - Pittsburgh

Vigil Wake Service:
Friday, February 16 at 7 p.m., Community Room at Providence Heights - Pittsburgh

Resurrection Service:  
Saturday, February 17 at 11 a.m., Mother of Divine Providence Chapel at Providence Heights - Pittsburgh

We commend to your charity the soul of our beloved
Sister Emily Gezich
Who departed this life on February 14, 2018
In the seventy-seventh year of her religious life
Age: 93 years, 3 months, 4 days

“No one wants to be a puppet dangling on someone else's whim. But when that someone is the Provident God of all creation, I am delighted to be a puppet on strings… . [K]nowing whose hands pull the strings, I am overjoyed to be jerked into action by the Divine Puppeteer.” —Sister Emily Gezich, 1992

Bernadette Gezich was one of 10 children of Anna Lukac and Ferdinand Gezich (who was born in Yugoslavia), and was a Sister of Divine Providence for 77 years. She survived her parents, and Agnes, Kathryn, Joseph, Ann, Fred, John, Elizabeth, Teri and Loretta.

Sister Emily was truly a citizen of the world and family. For 27 years she lived in the Arizona/New Mexico part of the United States. Her sister Loretta and her family also lived in that area, as well as her sister Teri. Emily and Loretta were both afflicted with asthma and living in that warm dry climate was the best thing for them. At times Emily was able to visit family up north. Her niece Renée tells the story about a trip to visit cousins in Michigan. Renée, Emily and other family members were in the car. They drove into a tornado, and a downed tree blocked the road. Sister Emily kept praying in the back seat and eventually they found their way to a shelter; later some good Samaritans led them out of that area. On another family occasion, Sister Emily’s niece Chris was given some spending money for a trip to Mexico. She was with her aunt and chose to give the money to poor people they encountered.

Sister Emily was a citizen of the world and of the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence. As a Sister of Divine Providence, she was in active ministry for 57 years. She was an educator for 15 years in the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Detroit, and 13 years in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. For 2 years, she ran an orphanage in Mexico. For 27 years, she ministered in various capacities in Arizona and New Mexico. In the Archdiocese of Detroit, one of her achievements was to help start our Lady Queen of Peace Grade School. In Puerto Rico, she taught many people who ultimately would contribute to the good of society especially by being doctors. In Mexico, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her children were summer volunteers at the orphanage. Mrs. Shriver felt that the experience was an important component of her children’s education. In Arizona and New Mexico, Emily ministered in so many and varied ways to the people of God. In Albuquerque, she was the administrator of Milne House, a shelter for unwed mothers. For every ministry, she obtained the education that she needed to perform this ministry, over and above her Duquesne University bachelor’s degree and her New York University master’s degree.

When she returned to Providence Heights in 2002, Sister Emily was helpful and supportive to others in every way that she could be. She never promoted herself but always looked out for others. She was always taking care of people to make it better for them. Now she is reaping the reward of that service and perhaps experiencing the feelings that she wrote about in this poem:

STILLWATER LAKE
Sitting cross-legged on a borrowed pier
Filled—gorged, that is—with the miracle of the setting sun
Silently creating a Path of Light shimmering on the still water
My being was suddenly flooded with profound Peace
Penetrating—Pervading—Possessing
Paradise

Birthday: November 11
Sister Mary Traupman

CLICK HERE to make a contribution in honor of Sister Emily Gezich's memory.