Longtime educator Sister Emily Marie, 98, a Felician Sister for 79 years, died in Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in Buffalo, on June 1, 2018.

The former Emily Jurecki was born on Jan. 9, 1920 in Syracuse. She entered the Buffalo Province of the Felician Sisters on July 8, 1938 and professed perpetual vows on Aug. 12, 1946.  

After graduating from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy in Buffalo, she furthered her education at Canisius College in Buffalo where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree.

Initially, Sister Emily Marie began her ministry as a full-time teacher on the intermediate level at St. Luke School in Buffalo. Her teaching extended to the junior high level in many schools within the Diocese of Buffalo where she taught for 29 years. At Precious Blood School, she also served as principal. She taught at Sacred Heart and Transfiguration Schools in Syracuse for a short time. Her teaching experience also extended to SS. Peter & Paul School in Welland, Ontario, Canada, for a year.

In 1971, Sister Emily Marie became involved in religious education as a teacher, coordinator and regional director in the Dioceses of Syracuse and Ogdensburg for 10 years. She continued her ministry as a religious education coordinator in the Diocese of Buffalo in 1981, serving at parishes in Mayville, Westfield and Dunkirk.

Sister Emily Marie began ministering in secondary education in 1986 when she taught math and English at Villa Maria Academy in Buffalo. Several years later, she taught math, religion, English and Latin at Notre Dame High School in Batavia. In 1992, she accepted the challenge to tutor some Felician sisters in the English language at Our Lady Queen of Poland Province in Warsaw, Poland.

Since 1995, Sister Emily Marie ministered on a part-time basis as a librarian, tutor, religious educator and parish minister in Syracuse, Dunkirk, Elma and Buffalo. In 2004, she became a member of St. Francis Residence Convent where she served as a receptionist.  Because of illness, Sister Emily Marie became a member of the Blessed Mary Angela Care Center in November 2008.

Sister Emily Marie is survived by nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Paul L. and Emily (Mostek) Jurecki, her brothers, Paul, John and William Jurecki, and her sisters, Josephine Galante, Sally Shaffer and Mary Pilger.

A funeral Mass was celebrated June 4 at the temporary convent Chapel. Burial followed at St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Cheektowaga.