Sophia Dembek (nee Gadomska), 87, died on Oct. 9, 2016 at her daughter’s home in Riverside.
Born on Dec. 17, 1928, she was a survivor of the 1940 Polish Deportation to the Soviet forced-labor camps in Siberia and became a Polish refugee in exile until 1943.
She was an orphan, living at the Colonia Santa Rosa in Mexico and later at St. Hedwig’s in Niles. She later married and raised three children.
Ms. Dembek is survived by her children, Greg (Elizabeth), Renata (Vince) Vitali and Eugene (Pam); and her grandchildren, Joanne (Mark) Kulaga, Carmen Vitali, Joe Vitali and Daniel Dembek. She was the aunt of Bozena, Beata, Malgosia and Krysia.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Dembek; her granddaughter, Rachel Dembek; her parents, Waclaw and Felicja (nee Reda); and her siblings, Henryk, Eugeniusz, Tadeusz, Alicja and Teresa.
Visitation is on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 3 to 7 p.m. and on Monday, Oct. 17 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Ivins/Moravecek Funeral Home, 80 E. Burlington St. in Riverside. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 126 Herrick Road in Riverside, followed by interment at Maryhill Cemetery.
