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Following his Aug. 18 episcopal ordination at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland, Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., poses for a photo with his parents, Robert Lewandowski and Frances Whitney. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Bishop Lewandowski’s mother, Frances, dies at 79


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Filed Under: Bishop Lewandowski, Feature, Local News, News, Obituaries

Frances Marie Whitney, the mother of Auxiliary Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., died March 2 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was 79.

Services will be held March 7 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marblehead, Ohio, with visitation at 10 a.m. and a funeral Mass, celebrated by Bishop Lewandowski, at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at the church’s cemetery.

Then-Father Lewandowski is shown with his mother, Frances, at his 1994 priestly ordination. (Courtesy Lewandowski family)

Whitney was the mother of four children – Mary, Bruce, Paula and Joseph – who she and her first husband, Robert, raised on six acres of farmland in Lima, Ohio.

She was a professed member of the Third Order of Secular Franciscans since 2006. In a 2020 interview, she said her children’s commitment to God was a great source of comfort.

Daughter Mary Francis is a member of the Felician Sisters of North America.

“When my children were born, I offered them back to God, and he took two of them,” she said. “That’s how it all started.”

According to a family obituary, Whitney worked as a registered nurse at H.B. Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton, Ohio, for many years until her retirement in 1993. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marblehead, where she coordinated the “prayer chain,” served on the vocation committee, and as a catechist. 

In her spare time, she enjoyed gardening, flower shopping and was an avid lover of ice cream and all animals, especially dogs, cats and horses. She enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Survivors include her children: Felician Sister Mary Francis Lewandowski; Bishop Lewandowski; Paula K. (James W.) Chupp, Joseph F. Lewandowski; grandchildren: Nathan (Angela) Dubbert, Jacob Dubbert, Hanna Lewandowski, Hilde Lewandowski, Heidi Lewandowski; great-grandchildren: Raelynn Dubbert, Riley Dubbert, Sloane Payzant; sisters: Kathleen Wagner and Cindi Bell; sister-in-law Donna Czelusta, and first husband, Robert J. Lewandowski. She was preceded in death by her parents; her second husband, William Whitney (d. 1999); her brother, Lawrence Czelusta; and brother-in-law, Timothy Wagner.

Expressions of condolence to Bishop Lewandowski may be addressed to: Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R.; Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore; 320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.

Online condolences may be shared with the family at walkerfuneralhomes.com.

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