Elizabeth L. Skowronski

On September 14, 2012, Elizabeth (Betty) L. Marcin Skowronski passed away at Johns Hopkins Hospital having been transferred from Upper Chesapeake Hospital after a ten day illness.

Born on January 8, 1926 she was a native of Swoyerville, Pennsylvania. She attended Holy Trinity Elementary School where she spoke both English and Slovak. At Swoyerville High School she was a member of the Forensic Society, the Science, Art and Glee clubs, the senior Minstrel and Amica. She received her diploma in 1943. Having worked at Isaac Long in Wilkes-Barre while caring for her father during illness she entered the nursing program at Temple University in Philadelphia. She received her RN in 1950 after completing a three year, year round program. While at the University she was a member of the Newman Society and the Student Nurses Glee Club and played intramural basketball. She completed her Pediatric rotation at St. Christopher Hospital in Philadelphia. Upon receiving her degree from Temple she worked until 1956 as an operating room nurse at Temple University Hospital. A talented artist, during this time she also created one of the illustrations for an edition of the textbook Babcock's Surgery. In 1954 she was elected Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Operating Room Nurses Association. From Temple she went on to work at Springfield Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts where she was the treasurer for the New England Pediatric Association Operating Nurses Association. She left Springfield for a position as an OR staff nurse at Perry Point Veterans Hospital in Perryville, Maryland where she was given excellent review of her work there.

On October 11, 1958 at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Rising Sun, Maryland she married her husband of forty eight years, the late Edward F. Skowronski. The couple resided first in Rising Sun but moved in 1962 to Bel Air, where Mr. Skowronski was teaching at Bel Air High School. Upon the birth of their first child Mrs. Skowronski retired from nursing but later returned to Perry Point in 1974 working another ten years at the hospital, this time as a nurse in the long term care ward.

Betty Skowronski was a parishioner of St. Margaret Catholic Church for fifty years. During the course of her membership she served as a member of the altar guild and was one of the altar boy mothers who took care of the cassocks and surpluses. Along with her husband she co-chaired the church's spring and fall festivals and musical plays staged by the St. Margaret Players. Her three children attended St. Margaret School where she volunteered as a room mother, field trip chaperone and school lunch helper. She and her husband were also members of the Home School Association and worked on dances and other events.

She was a past president of the Knight's Ladies of Bel Air Council #4714. She was a Girl Scout cookie mother and volunteered at the language lab and the spring fairs at the John Carroll School which all three of her children attended.

A devoted wife, mother, grandmother and aunt she was also an avid needlewoman who created embroidered and crocheted pieces for her children and many nieces and nephews. She enjoyed gardening, the Baltimore Orioles, The Young and the Restless and loved cardinals.

The youngest of six she was predeceased by her parents Stephen (Stefan) and Anna Tobias Marcin, her brothers Stephen, John and George Marcin and by an infant brother and sister. She is survived by her daughters Maryanna and Suzanne Skowronski of Bel Air, her son John and his wife Susan and their children Nicholas and Lauren of Avon, Connecticut. Locally she is also survived by her nephew Stephen Marcin, her great nephew and godson Todd Marcin, her nephew George Marcin and their families.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Margaret by Father Michael Schleupner and Mrs. Skowronski was laid to rest at Bel Air Memorial Gardens on September 18th. Pallbearers were Stephen Marcin, Todd Marcin, George Marcin, Nicholas Skowronski, Dennis Ohnmeiss and Robert Williams. Honorary pallbearer was Blaine Greig.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to:

Temple University School of Nursing
c/o The Skowronski Family
512 Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, MD 21014.