SISTER M. CANICE SMIALEK, SC, age 82, died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, on July 8. A Pittsburgh native, Sister Canice entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity on September 8, 1954, from St. John the Baptist Parish in Pittsburgh. Preceded in death by parents, Stanley J. and Anna (Burger) Smialek, a brother, Stanley J. Jr., she is survived by a brother, Michael, and a sister, Mrs. Ruth (John) Pruszynski. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Seton Hill University and was a licensed practical nurse at the former Pittsburgh Hospital. Sister Canice taught children in the kindergarten and primary grades in schools of the Altoona-Johnstown, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Tucson dioceses. From 1973 until 1979, she ministered as a nurse at Assumption Hall, the former infirmary and retirement home for the sisters. In 1979, she was assigned to the support staff at Seton Hill University where she served until 1987. Sister Canice served at Elizabeth Seton Senior Center from 1988 until 1990, and was then assigned to Greensburg Nursing and Convalescent Center as an administrative assistant and nurse from 1990 until 1994. She was the site manager for the Stephen Foster Senior Center in Bloomfield in 1994-1995, and, from there, she served as secretary to the administrator of the Sister of Charity Center in Greensburg, a position she held until 1997, when she returned to nursing for her congregation. Direct and unassuming, Sister Canice said of her life, “All through life, God has shaped me daily in becoming a true Sister of Charity. I think of the Scripture passage from Jeremiah, ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.’”
