Catherine M. Pawelski

Catherine M. Pawelski, 96, peacefully joined her parents and siblings Saturday, January 25, 2025, while under the dedicated care of Interim Hospice at Dimensions Living. Catherine was born on the family farm in the Town of Dewey April 27, 1928, to the late Antoinette (Kwasnik) and Lawrence Pawelski.

Her education started at the Liberty Bell School, a one-room schoolhouse, then high school at St. Joseph Academy, graduating in 1946. She worked at Worzalla Publishing before completing a BS degree from Edgewood College, then an MA degree from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She returned to Wisconsin to teach business classes at Kaukauna Senior High School for 7 years, then secured a teaching position in the business department at Madison Area Technical College, where she remained until her retirement in 2002 at the age of 74! She returned to Stevens Point and provided numerous volunteer services in the area, particularly enjoying genealogy and research into local history.

Faith, education, and family were her driving forces. A lifelong Roman Catholic, she was often a member of multiple parishes. Catherine valued a good education and assisted all of her nieces and nephews with the educational paths they pursued. She assisted her parents and brother, Theodore, in running the family farm, then coordinating care with her sister, Sister Regine Pawelski, for each of their parents in their later years even while continuing to teach in Madison.

Catherine travelled extensively, often with Sr. Regine and one or two of the nieces or nephews. Their adventures included trips to spots of interest in Wisconsin and adjoining states and into Canada, then longer jaunts to places like the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Catherine and Sr. Regine attended a semester of study at Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and took the opportunity to visit their mother's place of birth. They told of a delightful "walk" through Antoinette's girlhood home led by an elderly fellow that remembered the family. The sisters also took an Alaskan Cruise and brought home stories and pictures that captivated everyone.

Catherine is survived by eight nieces and nephews:  Justine Pawelski, Maxine (Patrick) Hogan, David (Karen) Pawelski, Christine (Kenneth) Kluck, Monica (Erik) Borreson, and Phillip (Julia) Pawelski, all of Stevens Point; Gregory (Sandra) Pawelski of Rudolph; and Daniel Pawelski of Mosinee. She is further survived by 15 grand nieces and nephews, 3 great grand nephews and niece, and a sister-in-law, Agnes Pawelski, of Mosinee. She was preceded in death by her parents, siblings and sister-in-law, Felix and Dolly Pawelski, Sister Regine (Rose) Pawelski OP, and Theodore Pawelski, and a grand-niece, Ashley Kluck.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be sent to St. Peter Parish in Stevens Point, St. Francis Xavier Parish in Knowlton, or the Sinsinawa Dominicans.

The family would like to extend a special thank-you to all the staff at Dimension's Memory Care Unit and the Interim Hospice team, all who provided exceptional and compassionate care in Aunt Catherine's final adventure.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Catherine will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday February 1, 2025, at St. Peter Catholic Church 800 Fourth Ave. Stevens Point. Fr. Arturo Vigueras will officiate. Visitation on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until time of service in the St. Faustina room at the church. Burial will follow in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cemetery Knowlton.

Pisarski Funeral Homes are honored to be serving the family.

For online condolences please visit www.pisarskifuneralhome.com