Rebuild My Church: Franciscan Sister Mary Carol Kopecky

Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Carol Ann Gambsky reflects on the countless ways Sister Mary Carol Kopecky has build Christ’s Church through her talents in music and teaching one student at a time.

Sister Mary Carol Kopecky, believe it or not, has taught music for 65 years! Of those 65 years, Sister devoted 24 years of service at Holy Family Conservatory of Music. Her desire, since she was a little girl, was to be a music teacher and help other people love music as much as she did. Her enthusiasm about all aspects of music is contagious and she imparts this zeal for music to anyone who knows her. 

I first met Sister Mary Carol in 1979 when I was a freshman at Silver Lake College. She was one of my instructors for several music classes and for the Humanities course that was team taught by her and two other fine arts instructors.

At the very beginning, from my interactions with Sister Mary Carol, I knew she was a very special person who cared about each and every student and took exceptional interest in them academically and personally and helped her students grow to their fullest potential. 

Over the years Sister Mary Carol guided, taught and mentored many music students in Wisconsin, Michigan and California. She did this with thorough preparation, research, high expectations while offering generous encouragement to her students. Her passion for music has never faded and her dedication to serve is deeply appreciated by her students and their families. 

Holy Family Conservatory has been especially blessed to have Sister Mary Carol teach and serve for 24 years. She taught all ages of students and many different instruments; piano, percussion, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and probably more! One unique ability of Sister Mary Carol is the assistance and guidance given to her high school students as they consider their plans after graduation. Some chose music careers and she went above and beyond the call of duty to help them prepare for college as a music major. Other students received advice about their career path whether it was to go to college or enter the work force.

Sister Mary Carol definitely deserves a change of pace after serving with endless energy, passion and love for music for the betterment of all of her students. Sister Mary Carol will be missed by everyone at Holy Family Conservatory! Your friendliness and conversations with all of the students and families will be missed by all. Thank you for everything you have done. Words cannot begin to express all of the gratitude for who you are and what you have done for the Conservatory.