Judy Siwek, 73, businesswoman and Catholic leader

Judy Siwek, owner and vice president of Siwek Lumber and Millwork in northeast Minneapolis and a sawmill in Jordan, Minn., devoted her artistic talents and leadership skills to her parish, its school and Catholic charitable groups in the Twin Cities.

The Minneapolis resident, who with her husband raised eight children, died of cancer Wednesday at her northeast Minneapolis home. She was 73.

Siwek grew up in Minneapolis and attended the old Vocational High School in Minneapolis, focusing on art.

In 1952, she married Joseph Siwek, who would run the lumberyard his parents founded in the 1930s.

One of her daughters, Patty Murzyn of Fridley, called her a peacemaker, a quiet leader. "Whenever us kids got out of line, she would gracefully put us in our place, at home and on the job," Murzyn said.

In 1993, she turned her home into the firm's headquarters for a few months after a fire wrecked its offices.

She was a fine seamstress, making quilted jackets and purses of layered fabric and giving them as gifts to volunteers in groups that she helped lead or donating them for raffles in fundraisers, said her daughter.

"If you needed her, she was there," said Martin.

She served as a leader when a dozen Catholic parish schools were consolidated into what became Pope John Paul II Catholic School in Minneapolis.

She was a former president of the old DeLaSalle High School Patroness Society, which raised money for programs at the school.

She played leadership roles in many Catholic organizations such as the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis' Council of Catholic Women and Our Lady of Good Counsel in St. Paul, which provides hospice care for the needy.

At her church, the Church of the Holy Cross, she served many times as president of the Rosary Society, raising money and taking care of the altar.

In addition to her daughter Patty, she is survived by her husband of 56 years, Joseph; three other daughters, Lynda Whisney of Minnetonka, Sharie Young of Kingman, Ariz., and Mary Kramasz of Jordan; three sons, David of Shakopee, Tom of Fridley, and Ken of Andover; sisters June Bjork of Menominee, Wis., and Pat Jackowell of Des Moines; a brother, Jack Mertz of Shakopee; 23 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. A son, Joey, died in 1977.