Sister Anna Maria (Mary) Nowicka

Sister Maria Nowicka, of the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, 90, of woodbridge, died peacefully on September 7, 2025 Sat St. Joseph Nursing Home in Woodbridge, NJ.

She was born March 24, 1935 in Konin, Poland, and baptized as Anna. As a teenager, by the seventh grade, when Communism gripped  her country, she learned of a friend enrolled in a religious sisters’ school and begged her parents for permission to study there.

Upon completion of a basic vocational school, Sister Anna Maria entered the Congregation of the Little Servant Sisters in Stara Wies, county Brzozow in 1953, became a novice the following year, then made her first vows in 1956 and her final vows in 1959. She began her ministry from 1955 to 1964 in Sanok at a preschool, and as sacristan and seamstress but in 1961, the communist government banished religious- run schools. After serving as sacristan and preparing for the missions from 1966 to 1969 in the Motherhouse in Stara Wies, Sister Maria was assigned as a missionary to Zambia, where she studied English, taught sewing and embroidery, and became the local superior in Kasisi.

In the USA in 1976, after a few months, Sister Maria courageously embarked on her next assignment in the then Sts. Peter & Paul Parish in Three Rivers, Mass. There, she spent 10 years working in the parish and preparing students for their first sacraments. After completing an associate’s degree at a university, Sister Maria opened a kindergarten in Three Rivers and directed-school plays twice a year with her young charges.

She then was assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Milltown in 1988, where she taught second graders. Her own studies resulted in the completion of her bachelor’s degree in education. Sister Maria also taught at St. Matthew School in National Park, NJ from 1994, then returned to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1996 for six years.

In 2002 Sister Maria began a ministry of service to the residents in St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Cherry Hill, where she served as sacristan, distributed Communion, assisted in activities. led discussion groups and visited with residents and families. Sister Anna Mary cherished the contacts she made in this ministry and joined them in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Even when she herself became a patient in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, she was passing out the Chaplet leaflets because it was so important to her.

In 2013  Sister was retired to prayer ministry at the Provincialate, Cherry Hill, NJ, and in 2021 to St. Joseph Senior Home where she likewise prayed the Chaplet among other devotions.

Her community regarded Sister as a fathful, prayerful religious and evangelist, who loved the Church and her community. She is remembered as encouraging youth to pray A conscientious teacher, sacristan, and participant in senior pastoral care and activities, and above all prayer mimnistry.

Visitation Hours will take place on Thursday, September 11, 2025 from 9 AM to 11 AM at St. Joseph’s Senior Home Chapel, 1-3 St. Joseph Terrace, Woodbridge NJ, followed by a 11 AM mass.

Burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery, Blackwood, NJ

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Sister Anna Maria (Mary) Nowicka, please visit our floral store.