S. Maria Kowalski

GREENVILLE, NC - S. Maria Kowalski, Dedicated Physician, 1924-2016.
Stanislawa Maria Kowalski passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, in her home in Greenville, NC, on May 29, following a long illness. A retired physician, she practiced medicine for over fifty years in Europe and the United States. She was married to Henryk Kowalski, a renowned Polish concert violinist, who passed away in 1982.
She was born in Janow Podlaski, Poland, to parents Stanislaw and Jozefa Rossa. As a teenager in German - occupied Poland during the Second World War, at a time when higher education for Poles was prohibited by the Nazis, she showed remarkable courage and determination by continuing her schooling in secrecy with private tutors. After the war, she enrolled in medical school at the University of Warsaw and received her medical diploma from the Warsaw Academy of Medicine in 1949, with a specialty in Pediatrics.
She practiced medicine in Poland and then throughout Europe. In 1971 she immigrated with her family to the United States and settled in Providence, RI, where she continued to work until she retired at age 84. She was on the staff of Boston Children's Hospital and Morton Hospital in Taunton, MA, and also developed a large private practice in Providence, serving many patients from the local Polish community. In 2008, she relocated to Greenville, NC.
She enjoyed the arts, travel, classic movies and gardening and was a loving and devoted mother and grandmother.
She is survived by her son Henryk, his wife Elizabeth and their sons Matthew, Nicholas and Jacob; and by her son Michael, his wife Jane and their daughters Emma and Abigail.
A Memorial Mass for Dr. Kowalski will be held at St. Adalbert's church in Providence, RI, on September 24th, 2016 at 10 am. A reception will follow in the church's parish center immediately following the service.
Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home & Crematory, Greenville, NC.
Online condolences at www.wilkersonfuneralhome.com