Sister Joyce (Joyce Mary) Rohlik, BVM
Sister Joyce (Joyce Mary) Rohlik, BVM, 85, died Thursday, September 19, 2024, at Mount Carmel Bluffs, Dubuque, Iowa.
Visitation, the Sharing of Memories and Mass of Christian Burial were on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Burial was in the Mount Carmel cemetery.
Sister Joyce was born March 10, 1939, in DeKalb, Ill., to Edward and Helen (Miskin) Rohlik. She entered the BVM congregation July 31, 1961, from St. Mary Parish, DeKalb, Ill. She professed first vows on Feb. 2, 1964, and final vows on June 1, 1969.
Sister Joyce was an elementary and/or junior high teacher at St. Odilo in Berwyn, Ill.; St. Mathias in Muscatine, Iowa; St. Dorothy and Providence-St. Mel in Chicago; and St. Andrew in Orlando, Fla. She also was a physical education instructor at St. Mary HS in Chicago. She ministered as an activity coordinator for Americana Healthcare and as bereavement minister; parish outreach coordinator; and minister to elderly, sick and homebound parishioners of St. Mary Magdalen Parish, all in Altamonte Springs, Fla. She served as bereavement minister at Sts. Peter & Paul Parish in Goldenrod, Fla. She was parish minister at St. Ann Parish in DeBary, Fla. She was a pastoral care minister for St. John Vianney parish and volunteered as a chaplain at Palms of Pasadena Hospital, both in St. Pete Beach, Fla. She also served as a diocesan annulment advocate at the Church of the Resurrection in Lakeland, Fla.
”Joyce was an immensely caring person who enriched numerous lives through her ministries as an advocate for meaningful activities and adequate health care for senior citizens. She loved and was loved by the parishioners in Florida to whom she ministered for over 40 years. When asked about her dream for the people she served, Joyce replied, ‘To grow old gracefully . . . To see a long life as an opportunity to grow in love of God. To let our friendship with God evolve into union with him. Union with God is truly aging gracefully.’” (Eulogy, Mary Frances Clarke Chapel, Sept. 24, 2024).
She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother William (Mary) Sullivan; sisters Joan (Pasqual) Petitti, Elaine (Paul) Polishuk, and Helen Rohlik; and brother-in-law Robin Lillibridge. She is survived by a sister Mary Jean Lillibridge, Shreveport, La., nieces, nephews, and the Sisters of Charity, BVM, with whom she shared life for 63 years.
Memorials may be given to Sisters of Charity, BVM, 1100 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, IA 52003 or online at https://www.bvmsisters.org/support_donate.cfm.
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