Maria Lyskowski

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Dr. Maria Magdalena Lyskowski, 82, of Jefferson City, died Wednesday, May 4, 2005, at her home.

She was born Sept. 3, 1922, in Katowice, Poland, daughter of the late Valentine and Maria Magdalena Menszczyzna. She and Dr. Stephan Lyskowski were married in Poland and the couple moved to the United States in 1950. He preceded her in death in 1968.

Lyskowski was educated in Poland prior to World War II, receiving her medical degree while residing in a displaced persons' camp in Hamburg, Germany. At the camp she met her husband, a Polish Army veteran and camp physician.

After moving to the United States, Lyskowski and her husband settled in Chicago and then Southern Illinois. After 13 years of being a homemaker and mother of three, she completed her internship at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis in 1965. She completed her psychiatric training at Barnes Hospital and opened a private practice in Clayton, Mo., in 1968.

Lyskowski moved to Columbia, Mo., in the early 1970s, where she took a position in clinical psychiatry at Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center and became assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri Medical School.

In 1977, she moved to Cape Girardeau and was a staff psychiatrist with Saint Francis Medical Center. She later worked as a private practitioner in conjunction with Neurological Associates of Cape Girardeau until her semi-retirement in 1989.

In 1990, Lyskowski moved to Jefferson City and continued part-time psychiatric consultation at the local mental health center, the New Horizons program and the Social Security Disability Determination office. She retired fully in 2001.

In her retirement, Lyskowski became a volunteer with Hospice of Jefferson City and Mid-Missouri, St. Mary's Health Center, Samaritan Center and Meals-on-Wheels. She was an active member of St. Joseph Cathedral, Learning in Retirement, Morning Music Club and Council of Clubs. She enjoyed gardening, sewing, reading and visiting with friends and family.

Survivors include her grown children and their families, Roman Lyskowski, his wife Elissa Vanaver and their son David, of Miami, Fla.; Barbara Morgan and her husband Jim of Cape Girardeau, their son Josh and his wife Julie Hodges of St. Louis; Dr. John Lyskowski, his wife Terry and their children Andrew, Jane and Danny, all of Jefferson City; and Peter Lyskowski and his wife Vickie and their daughter, Isabella, of Columbia.

Friends may call between 4 and 7 p.m. Friday at the Dulle-Trimble Funeral Home with a prayer service at 7 p.m. Funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the St. Joseph Cathedral, Jefferson City. The Rev. David G. Buescher will officiate, with burial in Resurrection Cemetery in Jefferson City.