Catherine Gietka, foundation president and mother of $183 million lottery winner, dies

Catherine “Kate” Gietka, who as president of her family’s charitable foundation helped direct nearly $2 million in grants to local parishes, pro-life causes and other nonprofit groups after her daughter won a $183 million lottery jackpot, died July 17.

The longtime parishioner of Holy Rosary in Fells Point, who had suffered from dementia in her later years, was one month shy of her 99th birthday.

Bernadette Gietka, one of Catherine’s three children, bought the winning Mega Millions ticket June 19, 2003, at Geresbeck’s supermarket in Middle River – three weeks after praying that God would send her money to advance the pro-life cause to which she had long been devoted. 

Choosing the cash option, Bernadette – a part-time letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service who worked three other jobs – walked away with $112.8 million, the second-largest payout to an individual winner in U.S. lottery history at the time.

In a 2003 interview with the Catholic Review, Bernadette, also a Holy Rosary parishioner, said she made the prayer at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

“I just said, ‘I’m so disgusted.’ I told God, ‘I know what you want me to do with my life but I don’t have the means to do it and I’m never going to have the means to do it.’ I said, ‘It’s up to you. It would benefit you to make me rich,'” Bernadette told the Catholic Review. “And I said, ‘Not just rich but really, really rich!'”

Bernadette, who had spent some time in her youth in formation to become a School Sister of Notre Dame, teamed with her mother to form Marys Fund Foundation. Beneficiaries included at least 10 Baltimore-area parishes, what was then known as the Cardinal’s Lenten Appeal and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. 

The fund requires that beneficiaries be IRS-certified charities, that they support a religious activity and that no more than $12,000 be given to any one recipient in a calendar year. Additional requests may be submitted in succeeding years and other requests are sometimes considered if the board deems them appropriate. 

Jerry Gietka, Catherine’s son, said his mother strongly believed in “spreading the money around” to help as many people as possible.

In “Mother of $183 Million Winner,” a 2008 self-published autobiography, Catherine described her deep devotion to her Catholic faith. The daughter of Polish immigrants who only spoke Polish until she went to school, Catherine recalled the reception of sacraments and devotion to Divine Mercy as important in her life.

“The most heavenly time of my life was when I received my first holy Communion,” she wrote. “I was 10 years old. I thought that nothing could stop me from going to heaven when I die.”

She was grateful to be born Catholic, she said, and prayed to fight the devil’s temptations. Gietka wrote that she spent most of her time praying for family members who didn’t go to church. She noted that after Bernadette graduated from Villa Regina Academy in Baltimore and decided not to be a nun, even she didn’t go to church. Ten years of her mother’s prayers brought her back.

Catherine wrote that she would keep praying her entire life for other family members who had strayed from the Church.

“If they all come back, I will change it to a prayer of thanksgiving,” she wrote.

Mother and daughter had a close relationship. Bernadette, who died in 2014, cared for Catherine after she suffered a heart attack. In the 2003 interview, Catherine said she was very proud of her daughter for having always been a “good girl” and a “hard worker.” In addition to helping her church, Catherine noted, “Bernie” took care of elderly people in their homes and had always been a generous person.

Catherine’s own mother, Mary, emigrated from Poland at age 14, traveling alone. Catherine was one of six children, all of whom predeceased her. She also outlived her husband, Ben, who died in 2006.

Catherine owned a confectionary store in upper Fells Point on South Ann Street, where she raised her children and lived above the store. 

She is survived by her son Jerry, her eldest child; her daughter Lynda Ruszala; grandchildren Bryan, Heather and Zachary Ruszala, David Gietka and Mary Kate Williams; and seven great-grandchildren: Katie and Bryan Ruszala, Nick and Chris Ruszala, and Robert and Michael Williams. Another great-grandchild, Josh Ruszala, is deceased.

At Holy Rosary, Catherine was a member and officer of the choir and of several of the parish’s Polish women’s groups. 

A funeral Mass will be offered July 25 at Holy Rosary at 10 a.m.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Also see:

$112.8 million Mega Miracle (2003)

Mega Millions winner sponsors Villa Regina Academy reunion (2008)

Lotto-winning philanthropist Bernadette Gietka dies at 65 (2014)

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