Sister Ellen Marie Zizibin, OP, passed away on July 14. She was 92 and a Sister of St. Dominic of Amityville for almost 73 years.

On March 5, 1933, Joseph and Ellen Guihan Zizibin joyfully welcomed their first and only child, Roberta Anne, into their home in Bushwick.

Although her mother died when she was only 7, Ellen grew up in the happy home of her grandmother and uncles, who were only a few years older than she and became like her big brothers.

Ellen attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and then Bishop McDonald High School, graduating in 1951. It was there that she met the Dominican sisters and made lifelong friends.

One of those friends, Sister Eva Mazzetta, tells how she and Ellen decided to work for a year and then enter the convent the following year. Both Eva and Ellen worked for Equitable Insurance Company until September 1952.

On Sept. 6, 1952, Roberta entered the Novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, and on Aug. 4, 1953, she received the habit and her religious name, Sister Ellen Marie.

She professed her first vows on Aug. 7, 1954, and her final vows on Aug. 7, 1957.

Sister Ellen received a BA from St. John’s University and became an effective elementary school teacher in schools of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

She began her long ministry in 1954 at St. Barbara’s School. She also taught at Incarnation School, St. Michael’s School, and spent her final years as a classroom teacher at St. Pancras School.

Sister Ellen Marie is survived by her dear and faithful friends and her Dominican sisters.

The wake and funeral for our Sister Ellen took place in St. Albert’s Chapel on July 17.

The Mass of Christian Burial followed, with interment in St. Dominic’s Cemetery on the Motherhouse grounds.