Sister Mary Alexine Machowicz, FSSJ 1932-2025

Sister Mary Alexine (Celestine) Machowicz, died peacefully on Tuesday July 8, 2025, at Immaculate Conception Convent in the 93rd year of life and the 72nd year of religious life.

Mary Alexine Machowicz was born on May 18, 1932, in Detroit, to Alexander and Martha (Kosch) Machowicz. On Jan. 25, 1952, she became a postulant and on July 22, 1956, Sister Alexine professed her final vows.

Sister Alexine received a bachelor’s degree in education from Cardinal Stritch College in Detroit. Throughout her religious life, Sister Alexine served as a caring teacher to God’s youngest people and later in life, to God’s most vulnerable, the elderly. Over her 38 years as a teacher, she taught in the Milwaukee area at St. Josephat and St. Charles Borromeo. In the Detroit area, she took her teaching skills to St. Hedwig Elementary and St. Sebastian. In the Buffalo area, she served students at Holy Innocents Day Care, Sacred Heart, and St. Barnabas and St. Stanislaus in Chicopee, Massachusetts. 

When Sister Alexine completed her teaching career, she began a second career of assisting the elderly. She served as the lively and encouraging activities director at Marycrest Manor in Livonia, Michigan, and then as a volunteer pastoral visitor at Marycrest Manor and St. Damian and St. Genevieve parishes in Livonia, before joining her Sisters in the FSSJ Care Community in 2018 to serve in the ministry of prayer and presence.

Sister Alexine was a creative, gracious and joyful servant of God, known for her devotion to Our Lady and daily Holy Hour. Faces lit up when she entered a room. Her students and the elderly never knew what she would direct them in for any given day, but they knew it would be enjoyable and heartfelt, and it might include homemade bread. 

Sister Alexine had the soul of a poet. She often wrote verses and poems to express and remember momentous events in her life including ministry changes, anniversaries and spiritual insights. Her gratitude to God for her vocation and community life were often subjects of her prayer and writings. Sister Alexine cherished her dear family and her Polish heritage in addition to the fun of polka dancing and supporting her hometown Detroit teams. 

At St. Francis Park she spread joy with her decorated walker, tape recorder with polkas or patriotic hymns, and liturgical or seasonal decorations at the nurses’ station.

Visiting hours will be held on Friday, July 11, from 2-4 p.m. at St. Francis Park, Hamburg, where a memorial prayer service will be held at 4 p.m. A funeral Mass will be offered in the St. Francis Park Chapel on Saturday, July 12, at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be at St. Hedwig Cemetery, Dearborn Heights, Michigan.