Sister Joyce Martin Nalewajk, FSSJ

Mon, Jun 12th 2017 10:00 am

Sister Joyce Martin Nalewajk, FSSJ, died June 5, 2017, at Immaculate Conception Convent in Hamburg. She was 88 years old.

The former Joyce Elizabeth Nalewajk was born March 8, 1929, in Bridgeport, Conn., to Joseph and Elizabeth (Marton) Nalewajk. She joined the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph as a postulant in 1948 and professed her final vows in 1952.

Sister Joyce Martin received a bachelor's degree in education from Caldwell College in New Jersey. She went on to teach for 50 years, including at Corpus Christi in Buffalo and Mother of Divine Grace in Cheektowaga. In the Diocese of Rochester, she taught at St. Hyacinth in Auburn and St. Theresa in Rochester.

Outside of New York State, Sister Joyce Martin served at schools in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

While living at the order's Hamburg motherhouse, she served as a library aide at St. Francis in Athol Springs and as a librarian at the motherhouse. In 2005, she joined the Colette Hilbert Care Community.

Sister Joyce Martin is survived by a sister-in-law, Carol Nalewajk, and her siblings' families.

A funeral Mass was held in the Immaculate Conception Convent chapel, with burial in St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Cheektowaga.