ALTON — Sister M. Julia Kuropka, FSGM, died on Sept. 22 at St. Francis Convent Infirmary in Alton. She was 94.

Sister M. Julia was born on March 26, 1926, in Werden, Kreis, Oels., Diocese of Breslau, Germany. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George on March 5, 1953, was received into the novitiate on Oct. 3, 1953, and made her first profession of vows on Oct. 4, 1955, all in Germany. She consecrated herself to the Lord forever in final profession on Sept. 16, 1959, at the St. Francis Convent in Alton. She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in the motherhouse on Oct. 16, 2004, and her Diamond Jubilee in Alton, on Oct. 5, 2014.

Sister M. Julia was sent to the American Province on Jan. 6, 1956. She served as a nurses’ aide in Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Alton, from 1956 to 1963, and in the Mother of Good Counsel Home in St. Louis until 1971. She was then transferred to St. Francis Convent in Alton, where she served the sisters for 15 years in their dining room.

From 1986 until 2001, she worked in housekeeping in the convents in Tulsa, Okla., St. Louis, and Springfield. She was entrusted with the office of sister-in-charge for six years at St. Michael Convent in Springfield. She was transferred to St. Francis Convent in Alton in December of 2001. She assisted in the sisters’ dining room for two years. She then became an adoration sister.

Sister M. Julia is survived by a sister, Marta Monkediek, and her sister and brother-in-law, Hedi and Georg Symalla, residing in Germany.

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, there was a private wake service and Mass of Christian Burial for Sister M. Julia. Father Paul Nguyen, OMV, officiated.

Staten-Fine Funeral Home in Alton was entrusted with professional services. Memorials may be made to the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George.