Adele Marie Wensink

Age 95.5, passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning 4th of November 2020. She was born to the family of Stanley and Helen Malkowski on April 29 1925, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

She graduated from Loretta Catholic Academy Girls School in the Sault. Her college education was at Michigan State University where she graduated with an accounting degree and worked as account controller at O’Leary Paint from Dec. 1965 to Dec. 1985. Her employer who knew Adele and her parents very well confidently confirmed her dedication to the church, and her job for 20 years, “she did very well.” She was married for a very short time which she did not talk about much; no children were involved.

As the only child of her parents she was devoted to them. She knew what each parent liked and did not like, she always told their story until a few years ago. Adele took care of her parents who she loved so much until they passed away. She was not only an accountant but she was also a very good hospice caregiver because she nursed both of her parents at home until they passed. She was one child in the house but acted as if there were more of them. She learned her mother’s skills of sewing and knitting. She spent her time at home with her parents knitting her sweaters, her quilts and blankets. A house was built for her in 1956 with her room and her sewing room upstairs. She was also very good at sewing clothes. She made blinds for her windows. She lived a quiet life until her parents died then she retired from her job then she decided to pay attention to laying treasures for her soul in heaven as she mentioned to her friends by serving the church more and praying more, doing what her parents instilled in her.

She supported seminarians’ education while alive and her leftover funds will go to the education of seminarians. She belonged to the Third Order of the Franciscans and she was their treasurer for a long time even when she moved to a new parish. Adele eventually moved to St. Mary Cathedral Parish in downtown Lansing. At St. Mary’s she was in the church council at some point and was very active, and she was their accountant for some time. She was also with the Legion of Mary that took her to some oversea travels a few times with her group. Adele lead the rosary daily at St. Mary Cathedral after 8 am Mass for a long time, as far as 1996 and even beyond, when some of us joined her to pray the rosary. It was from this small group of women that the Perpetual Adoration Chapel originated. Adele organized the fundraiser because of her parents’ position in the community and in the churches around Lansing. She knew people who would support the project and within a few months the fund for the chapel was donated and Father Murray gave approval for the building in any parish that agreed to have it built in their parish compound and thank God the late Msgr. Stotenbur of IHM parish allowed that space and that is why we are blessed to have a Perpetual Adoration Chapel here in Lansing. Her hobby as long as I have known her was daily communicant, praying every three hours at home until she went to bed. She also traded the stock market every day, which she was very good at because her father taught her how to and she learned it very well.

Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing. Inurnment will follow in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery on Willow Road immediately after Mass. Arrangements are by the Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel.