Sister Maria Cecylia Ursula Trela

Sister Maria Cecylia Ursula Trela, 87, of Woodbridge, passed away on March 3rd, 2024, at St. Joseph’s Senior Residence in Woodbridge, NJ.

Sister Ursula – the fourth of 11 children – entered the Motherhouse in Stara Wies, Poland on May 6th, 1954. After her formation, she worked with young children, trained as a bookkeeper, and taught religion classes before she was sent to the United States in 1972. After studies in English, she taught kindergarten at St. Matthew School in National Park then was sent to Glassboro State College for a degree in elementary education for grammar schools and graduated in 1980. When plans were being made to open St. Joseph’s Senior Residence (now Assisted Living) in 1981 and Nursing Center in Woodbridge, NJ in 1990 Sister participated in the establishment, and served in the administration. Sister Ursula was also the assistant administrator for St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Cherry Hill from 1982 to 1986 and certified as a licensed nursing home administrator. Later, from 1986 to 1990, she directed Saints Peter and Paul Preschool in Three Rivers, Mass, and qualified in preschool education. From 1990, Sister Ursula served as administrator at St. Joseph Nursing Home where she remained as administrator till 2014.

Sister Ursula’s mother promised her to the Lord as a nun even before she was born. When the young mother was five months pregnant, she was shot in the collarbone while working in the woods in Poland, and she promised God that if He saved the baby, she would offer the child to His service.

This year 2024, Sister Ursula celebrated her 70th jubilee as a Little Servant Sister of the Immaculate Conception. “They have been happy years,” she said, and that she never regretted her mother’s promise to God. “My mother was so happy” her daughter joined the religious order. Until almost the end, Sister Ursula enjoyed visiting and serving the residents and praying with them, participating in religious and other communal activities, and tending with her “green thumb” flowers and vegetables. She always recalled serving kindergarten children.

Faithful to the end, the Little Servant Sisters hold Sister Ursula in loving memory for her cheerfulness, her great love of God and the Holy Family with her religious and natural family, children, and the elderly. May God embrace Sister Ursula and reward her with eternal peace joy and peace.

She is predeceased by her parents Jan Trela and Bronislawa Wieckowska.

Sister Ursula is survived by her religious community, by her sister Maria Karpinska, her brother Czeslaw Trela and nieces in the USA, nephews, and family in Poland.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 7th, 2024, from 9 AM – 10:30 AM at St. Joseph’s Chapel, 3 St Joseph’s Terr., Woodbridge NJ   followed by an 11 AM Mass.

Burial will take place in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Blackwood, NJ.

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