December 1, 1940 — April 12, 2024
Sister Mary Barbara Kopecki, 83, died in Mother of Good Counsel Convent, Chicago, Illinois, after having lived 63 years in religious life.
Catherine Agnes Kopecki was born on December 1, 1940, in Floresville, Texas, to Isidore and Apolonia Kopecki. She has two sisters, Tina and Virginia, and two brothers, Otto and Germon. They belonged to St. Ann Parish in Kosciusko, Texas.
After attending public school in both Kosciusko and Poth, Texas, she spent one year in the Assumption of the BVM High School in Ponca City, Oklahoma, as an aspirant, and graduated in 1960.
Catherine entered the Felician Sisters’ Community as a postulant in Ponca City, Oklahoma, on July 2, 1960. She was invested with the habit on July 30, 1961, and received the name Sister Mary Barbara. She made her First Profession on July 31, 1962, and Final Profession on July 31, 1968.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Home Economics at Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas, and her Masters in Religious Studies at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington.
Sister Mary Barbara taught in primary, middle school, and high school throughout several states – Wichita, Kansas, Midwest City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, San Antonio, Texas, and Pomona, California. During this time, she was also a local minister, vicar, treasurer, vice-principal, library assistant, and in charge of various student activities, especially in high school. Students and parents of students have kept in touch with sister, thanking her for the values shared and how those values are being passed on to a younger generation.
In 2001, she was elected as a Provincial Council member and served as Secretary, Development Officer, Provincial Chapter Coordinator, and Community Life Coordinator at the provincial house in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. From 2010-2021 she remained in Rio Rancho and fulfilled various ministries – St. Felix Pantry, Local Communicator, Co-director of Felician Associates, clerical work, and ministry to the elder sisters. In 2022, she was transferred to the Health Care Center of Mother of Good Counsel Convent in Chicago, Illinois.
