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Deacon William Engler
Deacon William Engler, 84, died March 26. He was ordained in 1986.
He ministered at St. Mary, Riverside; St. John of the Cross, Western Springs; and St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr, Tinley Park, accompanying people in need, in doubt and in joy. He loved officiating baptisms and marriages and held deep affection for his deacon family.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Kate; his sons Vincent and Matthew; three grandchildren, and his sister, Marianne Lillie.
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Deacon John Lorbach
Deacon John Lorbach, 75, died March 26. He was ordained in 1996 and served at St. Raymond de Penafort Parish in Mount Prospect.
Deacon Lorbach served as the parish’s director of worship, coordinated the baptism program and was the parish representative to St. Mark Lutheran Church, the parish’s covenant partner.
He is survived by his wife, Ingrid; his children Brian, Timothy and Mary Kate; three grandchildren; and siblings Diane Wilson, David Lorbach and Karen Schappert.
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Deacon Feliks Pezowicz
Deacon Feliks Pezowicz, 81, died March 31. He ministered at Transfiguration Parish in Wauconda.
Born in Poland, he loved serving the community and regularly provide comfort and ministry services to the elderly. He was a fixture in the rosary group Kolo zywego rózanca Swietej Tereski od Dzieciatka Jezus.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Josette; his children Thomas Pezowicz and Donna Lesczynski; four grandchildren; and his sister Waclawa Krasowska.
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Br. James Small
Jesuit Brother James E. Small, 104, died March 19 in Clarkston, Michigan.
Born in Chicago, Brother Small was a postulant in the Jesuit novitiate in Milford, Ohio, for a few months when he was 18, but he went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II and worked as a machinist and Chicago police officer before entering the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus in 1952. He made his final vows in 1963.
Brother Small served as the infirmarian at the Milford novitiate (1955-1958) and West Baden College, Indiana (1958-1963).
He returned to the novitiate a carpenter (1963-1969) before being missioned to Loyola Academy in Wilmette, where he spent over four decades ministering as a carpenter and an artist-in-residence. In 2013, he moved to Colombiere Center in Clarkston.
Throughout his life, Brother Small would copy famous paintings and sell them to support Loyola Academy. Later in life, he began painting original artwork that currently hangs on the walls of Colombiere Center.
According to the Loyola Academy website, his paintings raised over a million dollars for tuition assistance at the school, where he also taught Saturday art classes to students of all ages.
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Sr. Mary Catherine Duffy
Providence Sister Mary Catherine (Marikay) Duffy, 90, died March 20 in St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana.
Born in Indianapolis, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1953 and was given the name Sister Marie Michele. She professed final vows in 1960.
Of her 73 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered in elementary schools in Illinois and California for nine years and then ministered in Arequipa, Peru, for nine years. Upon return, she served in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ Hispanic apostolate, and in 1987 was part of founding the Hispanic Education Center. She continued working in Hispanic ministry and ministry to immigrants.
In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at St. Athanasius, Evanston (1955-1956); Our Lady of Mercy (1956-1958); and St. Sylvester (1958-1961).
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