Helen G. (Sowinski) Petrowicz, 90 of Brownville Avenue, Ipswich,
wife of the late Walter J. Petrowicz, died Friday February 22,
2008 in the Brigham Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center,
Newburyport following her long illness.
Born in Salem November 8, 1917, daughter of the late Walter and
Helen (Koscielski) Sowinski, she was raised in Salem, attended
of St. John the Baptist Parochial School in Salem and was a 1935
graduate of Salem High School. For the next year she attended
the former Boston Filing and Indexing Institute of Boston.
Married 1941 in the St. John the Baptist Church in Salem, the
Petrowiczs soon made their home in Ipswich. For many years she
was employed as an office clerk at Sylvania in Salem and
Danvers and was a member of their Quarter Century Club. She was
a fifty-eight year member of the former Sacred Heart Church of
Ipswich where she was a member of the Holy Rosary Sodality, and
was a member Ipswich Catholic Woman’s Club.
A devoted wife and mother, she will be remembered for her love
of cooking, knitting, traveling with her family and her many
trips to Foxwoods and Atlantic City with the Council on Aging.
In retirement she and her husband wintered on Marco Island, FL.
She is survived by a son, John Petrowicz and his wife Kathy of
Rowley; three daughters, Barbara Prentice and her husband David
of Rowley, Mary Jane McCraven of Ipswich and Joanne Doucet and
her husband Pierre of Ipswich; nine grandchildren, John Doucet,
Michael Doucet and Steven Doucet all of Ipswich, Jennifer
Prentice of Newburyport, Haley McCraven and Nathan McCraven both
of Ipswich, Brian Petrowicz of Hudson, NH, Jeffrey Petrowicz of
Reading and Michael Petrowicz of Rowley. She is also survived
by a great granddaughter, Autumn Leigh Doucet of Ipswich; two
sisters, Othilia Gill and Emilia Polizzotti both of Peabody and
many nephews and nieces. She was the sister of the late Stephen
and Edward Sowinski both formerly of Salem.
Her funeral will be held Monday, Feb. 25, 8 am from the
Whittier-Porter Funeral Home, 6 High St., Ipswich, followed by a
Mass of Christian Burial 9 am in Our Lady of Hope Church,
Linebrook Rd., Ipswich. Family and friends are respectfully
welcomed. Visiting hours are Sunday from 2 to 6 pm. Interment
will be in the Highland Cemetery, Ipswich. Memorial
contributions in her name may be made to Brigham Manor Resident
Council Fund, 77 High St., Newburyport, MA 01950, Attn: Staci
Godtland.
