Emily A. Sowa

Emily was born on December 25, 1933, in Lemont, Illinois to Francis and Antoinette (Graczyk) Hytry, now deceased. She married Benedict “Ben” Sowa on August 2, 1958, and he preceded her in death on February 18, 2004.

Emily is survived by her sister, Cyrilla Hytry; her three children, Arnold (Nancy Kao) Sowa, Renée (Daniel) Clausner, and Mark (Kate) Sowa; as well as her grandchildren, Tai, Alexander, and Julia Kao-Sowa, D. Dillon (Sandra) Clausner, Mary (Jamie) Bruno, Charles and Elizabeth Clausner, Luke and Emily Sowa; great-grandchild, Margo Bruno; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Emily was, in many ways, a woman ahead of her time. Gifted with a scientific, inquisitive mind, she graduated as salutatorian from Lemont High School in 1951 and held her own amongst the male physicists and scientists at her first professional job as a Technical Secretary at Argonne National Laboratory. Like many women of her era, Emily left professional work to raise her children. But she never stopped her personal growth and learning, and she instilled enduring passions for education, science, and the arts in her children. Emily could locate Mars with the family telescope, kept models of NASA spacecraft, and stayed up to date with the latest in scientific advances. Emily cultivated her home for creativity and scholarly pursuits the way that others tend a garden: it was filled with books and scientific magazines; photography, craft, and art supplies were always on hand; and her home’s orderly quietude made the perfect environment for reading. She also always had a perfectly arranged cheese plate and bowls of freshly cut fruit ready for hungry minds. Under her tutelage, her children and grandchildren would go on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees from some of the world’s premier universities.

While Emily enjoyed the majesty and mysteries of the stars, she was also an explorer of Earth. Not only did she stock her home with National Geographic magazines, Emily visited the far-flung places chronicled within their pages. While trekking through the bush on a walking safari in Zimbabwe, she stared down a startled cobra, who eventually decided she was too much to tussle with. Her tale of flying around the cascades of Venezuela’s famed Angel Falls in a tiny single prop plane “for the view” never failed to fill her family with awe. Her expansive worldview inspired many of her children and grandchildren to live and work around the globe. She loved animals - great and small, especially owls, cats, birds, along with other woodland creatures who visited her for the peanut butter sandwiches and seeds she left out for them.

Emily’s curiosity about the universe and care for its creatures were exceeded only by her love for the people around her. She made her home a welcoming haven of calm, where friends and visiting family could gather and seek healing or respite from the complicated world outside its walls. She was everyone's confidante, someone with whom her children and grandchildren could share anything. She gave her family unconditional support, love and respect, a gift truly precious and life changing, one that gave them the confidence and self-worth to follow their dreams and reach for the stars, stars they had seen thanks to her.

Emily will be remembered by all who were graced to have known her. A private celebration of life will be held at SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Cemetery in Lemont, IL on December 17. Please contact a family member for details.