Sister Gertrude Lacki, teacher, spiritual coordinator and pastoral minister, passed away on May 28, 2024, at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. She was 77.
Born Nov. 16, 1946, in Buffalo, the daughter of Thaddeus and Helen Chojnacki Lacki attended St. Joachim School in Buffalo, Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, and Rosary Hill College in Amherst.
She entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity order on Sept.6, 1964, at Stella Niagara, and professed her first vows three years later and her final vows on Aug. 19, 1973, taking the name Sister Lenore.
Sister Gertrude began teaching in 1968 at St. Joseph School, Gowanda. A year later, she moved to the Diocese of Trenton. From 1978-1981, Sister Gertrude taught at the St. Francis International School in Rome. Returning to the Diocese of Buffalo, she taught at Stella Niagara Education Park and St. Peter School in Lewiston, before moving to the Diocese of Wheeling/Charleston, West Virginia where she served as teacher, pastoral minister, pastoral associate and mission coordinator.
In 1995, she again returned to Stella Niagara, this time as spiritual and social coordinator. Her last school assignment was SS. Columba-Brigid Montessori School in Buffalo where she taught from 2004-2009.
After her retirement in 2017, Sister Gertrude on two occasions spent time teaching English to the sisters of the Polish province of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in Orlik, Poland. She was also proficient in the art of Pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) and taught the sisters as well as guests at the Center of Renewal at Stella Niagara. She was also trained in foot reflexology and often provided this service to retreatants at the Center of Renewal.
She is survived by her brothers David and Michael Lacki; nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews. She is predeceased by her parents, her sister Eleanor Winterburg, and brother Richard Lacki.
A funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, June 4, at 10 a.m. in the Sisters’ Chapel in Stella Niagara.