Dorothy Dolak, SCN, 80, died Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, at Vincentian Home after a brief illness. She was in her 60th year of her professed religious life.

Dorothy was born Feb. 18, 1944, in Donora, Pennsylvania, to Stephen and Margaret (Simonik) Dolak. She was the middle child of three daughters. She was predeceased by her parents and her older sister Margie and is survived by her younger sister Cindy.

Dorothy entered the Vincentian Sisters of Charity as a candidate from St. Dominic’s Parish, Donora, Pennsylvania, in the Diocese of Pittsburgh on Sept. 8, 1961, and made her perpetual vows on Aug. 15, 1964. In 2008, she transferred her vows when the Vincentian Sisters of Charity merged with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

Sister Dorothy’s dream was fulfilled when she began teaching in 1964. She held a Bachelor of Science in Education from La Roche College and a Master of Arts in Teaching with an administration certification from Duquesne University.

From 1964 to 1976, she taught in many grade schools throughout the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Greensburg. She also taught at Vincentian High School for a year and then went to Mobile, Alabama, where she began her career as a principal for a year. Sister Dorothy returned to the Vincentian Sisters’ motherhouse and served as principal at many grade schools throughout the Pittsburgh area.

When her parents were both battling cancer at the same time, the Vincentian Sisters gave her a leave of absence to care for them. Her father died in 1989, and when her mother passed in November 1990, she took a new professional direction. She attended classes at the University of Scranton and became a licensed nursing home administrator. The community assigned her to work as administrator at Regency Nursing Home for 11 years.

Sister Dorothy worked at the St. Vincent de Paul Society for a short while until health issues forced her to leave. When she returned to work, she became principal at St. Sebastian School for three years. Afterward, she worked with the frail elderly at Comfort Keepers. In 2008, she became motherhouse coordinator at Saint Louise until after the merger with the SCN community. In August 2009, she accepted the principal position at Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, where she ministered for five years.

Retiring from full-time ministry in 2014, she took on a variety of volunteer roles, including tutoring for the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, serving as a part-time cemetery associate for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, volunteering as a driver for her sisters, and working at Light of Life Mission Food Bank until she suffered a fall that sent her to Vincentian Home.

She is survived by her sister Cindy, as well as her religious community, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

Funeral and burial arrangements are as follows:

• Viewing at St. Louise Convent Chapel on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at 8200 McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237 (please enter by the garden door after parking).
• The funeral Mass will begin at 11 a.m.
• Burial to follow in the Sisters’ Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Office of Mission Advancement, P.O. Box 9, Nazareth, KY 40048.