Sister Mary Valenta Akalski, 78, served St. Joseph community in Webster

Sister Mary Valenta Akalski, 78, served St. Joseph community in Webster


    WEBSTER – After a life given to the Lord Jesus Christ as a Felician Franciscan, Sister Mary Valenta Akalski died on June 23 in Worcester. She was 78 years old and had been a Felician Sister for 58 years.
    The former Bertha Akalski, Sister Mary Valenta was born on July 12, 1939 in the Bronx, N.Y. She would have marked her 79th birthday this July celebrating with her twin Sister Jeanne Marie Akalski.
    Bertha entered the Felician Sisters in Lodi, New Jersey, on Aug. 1, 1959. She received her habit and the name Sister Mary Valenta on Aug. 14, 1960.
    When she entered the Felician Sisters, she was destined to become a teacher as most of the sisters were at that time. Through the years she taught in elementary schools staffed by the Felician Sisters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Massachusetts.
    However, her years as a Felician Sister went in some interesting directions. In 1974 and 1975 she was a member of the Holy House in Washington, New Jersey, where she prayed intensely and supported the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. In 1979 and 1980 she taught kindergarten and worked as a culinary aide in Our Lady of Grace Home for Children in Newark, Delaware. In 1980 until 1982 she returned to the Bronx to be a caregiver for her mother before her mother’s death. From 1986 until 1989 she was on the culinary staff of the Felician Sisters’ Generalate in Rome.
    In 2010 she became a part of the staff at St. Joseph School in Webster, joining her twin sister in serving God. Her love of the children in kindergarten was ever so apparent; she saw in them the goodness of Almighty God. Not only did Sister Valenta minister to the children in the school, she also supported the parish, helping at bingo and other events, coming to devotions in church and getting to know all the people of this faith community.
    On June 16 she and her twin helped at the parish festival and on the way back to the convent, Sister Valenta suffered cardiac arrest. Her final week of life was spent supported by a respirator that gave her breath. On June 23, her twin sister bravely gave permission for the respirator to be removed. In a few hours Sister Valenta entered eternity, welcomed by the Loving God whom she had faithfully served her entire life.
    Sister Mary Valenta is survived by her twin sister, Sister Jeanne Marie Akalski of Webster. She is also mourned by the members of her Felician Community in New Jersey and Connecticut and by her  colleagues.
   Her funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11a.m. on Friday, June 29 in St. Joseph Basilica, 53 Whitcomb St. Visiting hours will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 28, in the Sitkowski & Malboeuf Funeral Home, 340 School Street, Webster, MA 01570 and again from 10 to 11 a.m.Friday in the basilica, prior to the Mass. A second Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 2, in the chapel Our Lady of the Angels Convent, 1315 Enfield St., Enfield, Connecticut, with visitation from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in St. Adalbert Cemetery, Enfield.
    Donations in her name may be sent to Sister Jeanne Marie Akalski, 5 Maynard St., Webster, for either the Felician Sisters or for a scholarship in honor of Sister Mary Valenta that will be presented at graduation of St. Joseph School in 2019.