Sr. Mary Maximilia Szarnowski, CSSF, born Nov. 12, 1911, in Cedar, Mich., entered eternal life in the St. Joseph Care Center Convent on Oct. 29. She was 103 and had spent 86 years in religious life.

Elizabeth Szarnowski was the 13th of 16 children of Ignatius and Mary (Skeba). She attended Holy Rosary Elementary School in Cedar and the Seminary of the Felician Sisters in Detroit.

On Oct. 19, 1929, Elizabeth became a member of the Congregation of the Felician Sisters. She pronounced first vows a year later and final vows in 1938.

Sr. Szarnowski earned a degree from Madonna College in 1953, and later a License of Practical Nursing (LPN), from the Practical School of Nursing in Bay City. Her teaching ministry spanned 55 years in Michigan and Indiana. Assignments included: St. Mary, Alpena; St. Mary Assumption, Bronson; St. Hyacinth, Bay City; Holy Rosary, Cedar; St. Andrew, St. Albertus, St. Casimir, St. Hyacinth, St. Louis the King, Immaculate Conception, St. Christine, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Stephen, Detroit; Holy Spirit, St. Jude and St. John Vianney, Grand Rapids; St. Florian, Hamtramck; St. Joseph, Jackson; St. Stanislaus, Ludington; St. Joseph, Manistee; St. Stephen, New Boston; St. Damian, Westland; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Wyandotte; and St. Adalbert, South Bend, Ind.

Interspersed with her ministry in education, Sr. Szarnowski served as an LPN at St. Joseph Nursing Home in Livonia, and at St. Francis Home in Saginaw. She embraced prayer ministry for three years at the Presentation Prayer House in Jackson and served as the manager of the chaplaincy for the priests who served the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Provincial Home in Livonia.

Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Nov. 4 in the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel of the Felician Sisters, Livonia. Burial was in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield.