Bernard Bernie Zdanowicz

Bro. Bernard Zdanowicz, SDB, ended his earthly pilgrimage early on February 20 at the Joe Raso Hospice Residence in New City, N.Y., after a long illness related to heart problems. He was 90 years old and had been a professed Salesian brother for more than 58 years. Bro. Bernie was born in Trenton, N.J., on July 26, 1924, the fifth of the twelve children of Stanley and Stanislava Wisniewska Zdanowicz. The family belonged to Holy Cross Parish, where Bernie was baptized on August 8, 1924, and later confirmed. He attended Holy Cross School in Trenton. The guidance of the Felician Sisters in the school and Bernie's participation in the parish choir for many years helped foster in him a religious vocation that emerged years later. He was graduated from Trenton Central High School in 1942, where he played football three years. Drafted into the Army, he served with the 69th Infantry Division and, following illness, in work battalions from 1942 to 1945. After being discharged, he worked as a postal clerk in Trenton and used the G.I. Bill to get training as an auto mechanic. He worked as a mechanic from 1948 to 1953. At that time, says Bro. Bernie, he was "seized by a great devotion to our Lady and the Holy Rosary promoted by Fr. Patrick Peyton and his Family Rosary Program, and felt God's presence and vibrant urge to give myself to God and serve his people." So at age 29 Bernie went with his dad to see their pastor. They looked into several religious orders but found that only the Salesians had a suitable program for "late" vocations. He entered Don Bosco Seminary in Newton, N.J., in October 1953 and spent two years doing preparatory studies. In September 1955 he was admitted to the novitiate, and on September 8, 1956, professed vows with 20 young Salesians (including Bros. Pat Barbariol, Kevin Connolly, Harold Danielson, Joe Doran, Ken Germaine, and Tom Juarez). Bro. Bernie felt "an intimate and personal encouragement from Don Bosco himself" at that time. Immediately after his profession, Bro. Bernie was sent to Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson, N.J., to teach automotive technology, and he remained there until 1993. His students were very fond of him, and he was well liked and respected by all of the staff. He was famous for working with donated clunkers to get them into roadworthy condition—although that might have depended upon one's definition of "roadworthy"—for keeping the shop spotless, and for his cheerful attitude. Don Bosco Tech was unable to keep up with the increasing technical sophistication of automobiles. So the auto shop was closed in 1993. At age 69 Bro. Bernie was assigned as caregiver and administrator of Blue Gate, the Salesian residence for sick and elderly confreres in Stony Point, N.Y. But he also maintained the vehicles of the adjacent Marian Shrine-Don Bosco Retreat House. With the closure of the residence in 1999, Bro. Bernie moved to the Marian Shrine to continue caring for the vehicles, help in the gift shop, and assist the pilgrims who visit the Shrine on weekends—all of which he kept up as best he could into his 91st year, despite various physical ailments. In the fall of 2014 he was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y., with a serious heart problem, and death seemed imminent. But the situation was not quite so dire and he recovered sufficiently to return home in a couple of weeks. Bro. Bernie was genuinely disappointed not to have gone to heaven instead! But he needed more and more care and was in increasing physical difficulty, so that early in February he was admitted to hospice care at Joe Raso. Visiting will be at the Marian Shrine 174 Filors lane Stony Point, NY 10980 from 2-5pm Monday February 23, 2015. A Mass of a Christian burial will be at 7pm. Interment will be at the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen , NY on Tuesday February 24, 2015 at 10am.