WARD, DUCIUK

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, January 25, 2008 at 06:27:37 :

Independent Journal
Monday, March 24, 1980
Page 4

Sister M. Frieda Ward

Dominican Sister Mary Frieda Ward, widely recognized expert on Marin’s trees and wildflowers, died Sunday in a local hospital after a heart attack.

She devoted her life to a series of careers, first in bacteriology and laboratory technician work, then to teaching and finally to the Order of Preachers.

She was born in Philadelphia in 1905, and later recalled that she became interested in botany as a child, through nature walks with her father. She studied medical technology at the University of Pennsylvania and later earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

She founded a professional society for clinical lab technicians in Philadelphia and helped found similar organizations elsewhere. Last year at the age of 74, she was a keynote speaker at the meeting of the Americans Society for Medical Technology in Las Vegas.

She joined the Dominican College faculty in 1950, as a lay instructor in bacteriology, then entered the Dominican order. After religious training, she returned to teaching except for two years in hospital work in Stockton. She served part of the time as chairman of the biology department at Dominican.

Her friends recalled that she always followed the careers of her students with interest.

In recent years, she joined the Emeritus College at College of Marin as teacher and trustee. Her courses on Marin’s native plant life were popular.

She was a published author of article on medical subjects and botany.

Sister Frieda was a member of many medical associations, and belonged to the California Plant Society. She was also a trustee of the Louise Boyd Museum in San Rafael.

She is survived by a sister, Adelaide Daciuk, and a brother, Richard Ward, and many nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Dominican Convent chapel. The rosary will be recited at 7:45 tonight in the chapel.

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A Death Notice in the same paper adds that she was the daughter of the late James and Frieda Ward. Burial was in St. Dominic’s Cemetery, Benecia, CA.