Mielnik, Stephie M. (Podgorski)

Stephie M. (Podgorski) Mielnik, 90, died Nov. 22, 2012, at Mercy Hospice in Iowa City. Visitation will be Sunday, Nov. 25, from 2 to 5 p.m., with a prayer vigil at 4:30 p.m. at Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City. Funeral Mass will be held Monday, Nov. 26, at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Iowa City, with the Very Rev. Rudolph T. Juárez officiating. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery in Iowa City.

She was born Dec. 20, 1921, in Altoona, Pa., daughter of Florian and Marianna (Cebenko) Podgorski. After graduating from Altoona High School in 1940, Stephie attended business college where she received an associate degree. She worked as a bookkeeper and at a bank in Altoona for several years before marrying Edward M. Mielnik at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Altoona on May 1, 1944. They settled in Iowa City, where Edward taught in the University of Iowa College of Engineering while Stephie raised their five children. After their children were older, she began working at the Montgomery Ward store in Iowa City, where she first started in the credit office and eventually became the head cashier. She remained with Wards until the time it was closed.

As a longtime member of St. Patrick Church in Iowa City, Stephie helped when she could by baking various treats and knitting numerous afghans for bazaars over the years. She enjoyed all sorts of crafts but especially liked needlework such as knitting, crocheting and embroidery. She crocheted countless hats, baby outfits and blankets for newborns, many of which she donated to a local hospital. She sewed most of the clothes her children wore and did such beautiful work that she was even asked to sew a bridal gown, as well as the attendants gowns, by one of her many friends.

Stephie was an enthusiastic gardener who had numerous varieties of flowers bordering her entire yard, along with grapevines and fruit trees from which she made jelly, juice, applesauce and apple pies. She was also an avid reader who read a vast number of books, magazines and newspapers.

Stephie never had a selfish thought or an unkind thought about anyone in her life. She was a generous person and a devoted wife and mother who always put her family before herself. While working full time, she continued raising her five children; cooked elaborate meals; did laundry for seven people in the evenings and weekends always hanging the clothes outside even in winter and at times walked miles to and from work and ran the household all with very few conveniences. It wasn't until her children became adults that they realized the magnitude of her efforts and began to truly understand and appreciate all that she did for them throughout their lives. She was the best mother ever.

Stephie is survived by four children, Mary Mielnik and William Mielnik of Iowa City, Thomas (Debra) Mielnik of Bettendorf and Connie (James) Reasoner of Urbandale; a sister, Frances Weeks of Redford, Mich.; a son-in-law, George Tipler; five grandchildren, Lisa (Daniel) Miyares, Shaina Mielnik, Megan (Ryan Mulvenon) Mielnik, Laura (Shawn) Van Vonderen and Erin Tipler; two great-grandchildren, Stella Miyares and Samuel Miyares; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband on July 19, 2002; a daughter, Carol Tipler on Nov. 1, 2007; her sisters, Genevieve Wolfe, Sister Charles Borromeo, Stella LaMorte, Ann Korol, Viola Fliegerbauer, Leona Castelluzzo and Lucille Podgorski; and her brothers, Joseph Podgorski and Anthony Podgorski.

Instead of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Patrick Catholic Church, 4330 St. Patrick Dr., Iowa City, IA 52240.

Published Nov. 24, 2012 in The Gazette