Father Robert A. Lilly, Maryknoll Missioner to Korea, died on May 19, 2022, in the Assisted Living Unit at Maryknoll, NY. He was 87 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 59 years. In June 2022, Father Lilly would have celebrated his 60th Jubilee as a Maryknoll priest.
Robert Aloysius Lilly was born in Brooklyn on January 6, 1935, to Robert A. Lilly, Sr., and Anna Lucille Cunningham Lilly. He was the oldest child and grew up with two brothers and three sisters. He started school at St. Edmunds Elementary in Brooklyn; but when the family moved to Rowayton, Connecticut, he transferred to Rowayton School. He graduated from Delbarton School, Morristown, New Jersey, in June 1952 and entered Maryknoll at the Maryknoll Junior College (Venard), Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, that same month. He studied at Maryknoll Apostolic Colleges in Lakewood, New Jersey, and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and completed his studies for the priesthood at Maryknoll Seminary, Maryknoll, New York.
He held a BA in Philosophy and an MRE in Religious Education. Father Lilly was ordained a Maryknoll priest at Maryknoll on June 9, 1962.
Upon ordination, Father Lilly was assigned to Maryknoll’s Mission in Korea, where he worked from April 1963 through April 1968, and then again from January 1969 through January 1974. Early in 1974, Father Lilly returned to the United States and was assigned to the Development Department, where he worked for nine years before going back to Korea in 1983. After spending 11 years in Korea, Father Lilly again accepted an assignment to the Development Department in July 1994.
Father Lilly joined the Retirement Community (Senior Missioner Community) in 2002 and moved to Heron, Montana. There he exercised his priestly ministry on a regular basis in three Idaho parishes. In 2019, he took up residence at the Society Center in Maryknoll.
Father Lilly is survived by his sisters: Anne Lilly of Quartzsite, Arizona; Pat Underberg of Littleton, Colorado; Virginia Ferguson of Santa Rosa, California; and his brother Mark Lilly of Hermitage, Tennessee. According to Father Lilly’s wishes, his body was donated to the New York Medical College for medical research.
A memorial Mass was held on May 25 and was concelebrated in Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Society Center in Maryknoll. Father Russ Feldmeier was the principal celebrant and homilist.
Sister Dorothea Jurkowski, CSFN died peacefully on May 28 after a brief illness. She was 86.
Sister Dorothea was born on January 8, 1936, in Springfield, MA to Mary (Czop) and John Jurkowski. She was the youngest of 12 children, being born after her twin sister, Dorothy. She spent the first 18 years of her life in Springfield and attended local schools — Our Lady of the Rosary Elementary and Cathedral High School. On October 8, 1954, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, professing her temporary vows on June 10, 1957, and her final vows on August 11, 1963.
Sister Dorothea was in the field of education for 61 years either as a teacher or principal ministering to families in schools throughout New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Sister also served for five years in formation for her Congregation as Director of Novices and Temporary Professed Sisters. Sister was elected as Assistant Provincial, a position she held from 1998 to 2004.
In July of 2020, Sister Dorothea retired to Immaculate Heart of Mary Convent in Monroe, Connecticut where she happily and enthusiastically lived her retirement years until her death.
Those who knew her will remember Sister Dorothea for her kindness, simplicity, love of life, willingness to serve others, and her eternal smile. She joyfully lived her consecration to God in total dedication to the service of the Church and her Religious Congregation.
Sister Dorothea was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and John Jurkowski, and several brothers and sisters. She is survived by her brother, Frank Jurkowski, numerous nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
Funeral services will be private.