“Be diligent in serving the poor. Love the poor, honor them, my children, as you would honor Christ Himself.”
St. Louise de Marillac
Sister of Charity Anne Darlene Wojtowicz Celebrates Diamond Jubilee
As a dedicated health care professional, Sister Anne Darlene Wojtowicz always opened her heart to those in need. For more than 25 years, she ministered at Nuestra Clinica del Valle in Edcouch, Texas, a vital community health center in Hidalgo County. “We did not refuse anyone. Those who didn’t have appointments, we saw them in between. We didn’t leave the office until we were finished,” she recalled, capturing the clinic’s unwavering commitment to care.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sister Anne Darlene entered religious life in 1965 and celebrated her 60th anniversary this year. She was first missioned in 1968 to Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a nurse aide. The following year, she moved to St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she became a licensed practical nurse. In 1972, she earned her Associate of Arts in Nursing from the University of Albuquerque.
Her ministry soon took her far beyond the United States. She served with Catholic Relief Services in Saigon for nine months during the Vietnam War, returning home on the first successful Operation Babylift flight, where she accompanied more than 100 orphans to safety. From 1975 to 1977, she also ministered in Yemen.
Sister Anne Darlene first came to Texas in 1980, serving as a nurse-midwife at Su Clinica Familiar in Harlingen. After several years ministering in Washington, D.C., she returned to Texas in 1983 and, with three other Sisters, co-founded Holy Family Services in Weslaco. The birth center was created to provide poor women with a safe place to deliver their babies, and Sister remained there until 1989.
She later pursued further studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Texas–Pan American in Edinburg in 1991. That same year, she began her long ministry at Nuestra Clinica del Valle, where as a family nurse practitioner she cared for 20–30 patients each day, providing medical services, evaluations, and—always—compassionate presence.
Of her devotion to her patients, she later shared: “They knew they could depend on me. They knew they could ask me to pray for them if they were in the room or at another time. I tried to be there for each individual. I tried to be where they were at and not go beyond what they could understand or do.”
Today, Sister Anne Darlene resides at Mother Margaret Hall on the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati campus, continuing to live in community with the same spirit of service that has guided her throughout her life.
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