Alyce Constance Gondek, 94, died Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, at the Portage County Health Care Center in Stevens Point.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 13, at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Stevens Point, with the Rev. Jerzy Rebacz officiating. Burial will be in the parish cemetery.
Visitation will be held at the church from 9:30 a.m. Monday until the Mass.
Memorials should be sent to St. Joseph’s Indian School, 1301 N. Main St., Chamberlain, SD 57326; or the Portage County Health Care Center to help maintain the gardens where she liked to sit.
Boston Funeral Home of Stevens Point assisted the family with arrangements. Condolences may be offered online at bostonfuneralhome.net.
Mrs. Gondek was born Constance Mary Lowell Feb. 12, 1917, in New York City, N.Y. She lived at St. Vincent Orphanage until the age of 2-1/2. She was first indentured but later adopted and raised by the late Frank and Mary (Latus) Krzykowski in the Chicago, Ill., area. She attended two boarding schools during her high school years: two years at St. Mary’s of Notre Dame near South Bend, Ind., and her junior and senior year at St. Patrick’s Academy in Momence, Ill., from which she graduated.
She was married to Andrew Ignatius Gondek on Feb. 19, 1938, in Chicago, Ill. He died in 1980.
She graduated magna cum laude from DePaul University in Chicago in 1966 with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy. She taught in the Chicago Archdiocese of Catholic Schools system for seven years. She published poetry under the name of Constance Lowell.
After the death of her husband, she moved to Stone Mountain, Ga. In January 1996, she moved to Stevens Point. After retirement, she continued to tutor students at home in reading and math and was a reading volunteer for the Stevens Point Area Schools.
Survivors include one daughter, Diane (Dan) Dieterich, Stevens Point; one daughter-in-law, Elaine Gondek, Suwanee, Ga.; one son-in-law, James Evans, Las Vegas, Nev.; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
She was also preceded in death by one son, Andrew (Jerry); one daughter, Joan (Joni) Evans; and her adoptive sister, Helen Tucker.
