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Sr. Mary Jane Herlik
Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Jane (Querin) Herlik, 91, died April 4 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Born in Wisconsin, Sister Mary Jane made her first religious profession in 1950, and her perpetual profession in 1953. She taught and was a coprincipal, and served in pastoral ministry and HIV/AIDS ministry.
She noticed in the early 1980s that medical personnel and clergy were afraid to enter hospital rooms of those dying of AIDS, so she responded to their needs, saying, “I felt I was being called to minister to those dying with AIDS,” according to an article in the Tampa Bay Times. She served in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida.
In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Mary Jane taught at Visitation (1950-1955) and Trinity High School, River Forest (1964-1969, 1973-1978).
She is survived by a sister, Rosalyn Simonar, and a brother, Querin “Quin” Herlik.
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