Christine Marie Sadowski

Christine Marie Sadowski, a sociologist specializing in Eastern Europe died January 14 in her sleep at her apartment in Arlington, VA , her home for the last two decades. This length of time was itself remarkable as she had accumulated over 40 different home addresses pursuing her career and active lifestyle before settling in Arlington. Born to Joseph V. Sadowski and Estelle M. (Olejarczyk) Sadowski in Detroit, Michigan, she graduated from Crestwood High School of Dearborn Heights in 1969 and went on to earn her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D., all in Sociology, from the University of Michigan which included a period of study at the University of Krakow, in Poland, while working toward her Master’s degree. After earning her Ph.D., she was employed as a visiting assistant professor at Trinity College in Hartford, CT and at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. Moving to Stanford, CA, she conducted research on Poland’s Solidarity movement for the Hoover Institution. Here she also worked as a research associate for the Department of Political Science at Stanford University and director of research for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Moving to Arlington around 1990, she worked for the Department of State, Development Associates, Inc., Amnesty International, the Academy for Education Development, the Free Trade Union Institute (AFL-CIO) and the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, D.C. It was during this time between evaluating programs to promote democracy worldwide and organizing international conferences that she fondly recalled one of her trips to communist Poland where she was regularly followed by the KGB. She conceded that the suspicions of the secret police were not unfounded as she was there to personally deliver secret documents to Lech Walensa, the Nobel Peace Prize winning leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement. She also managed to smuggle out videotape interviews with the future Polish president from the Communist Block. Christine was politically passionate and always open to new adventure. Professionally, she successfully negotiated for millions of dollars in grants for Central and Eastern Europe while privately she acted as family archivist, organized inauguration parties and other events like a family fund drive for flood victims of her ancestral town of Janowiec when the Vistula River crested in 2010. Being multi-lingual, she traveled whenever she could and although she did not shy away from the needy side of humanity, she was always delighted by fine art and craftsmanship, elegance and formality. With her incisive sense of humor and skillfulness with Polish political jokes, she knew how to laugh yet she also knew how to cry. Since 1994 she suffered the debilitating effects of nearly untreatable depression that tore at her mentally and physically. Although she worked for justice and world peace, Christine was never able to find the inner peace that most of us enjoy daily. She is survived by her sister Barbara Drumheller of Flint Hill, Virginia, her brother Tom of Lincolnville, Maine, her nieces Julia Bergeman of Paeonian Springs, VA, Lorraine Goldberg of Flint Hill, VA, TerraNova Sadowski of Miami Beach, FL, two grandnieces and a grandnephew. A memorial service will be held at 1pm on Sunday, January 26 for Christine Sadowski who died January 14 after a 20 year battle with severe depression and the physical and mental complications she experienced dealing with this affliction. The service will be at Pierce Funeral Home at 9609 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110. For directions, you may call the funeral home at (703) 257-6028. Questions about the service may be directed to Adrianne V. Doherty, who is helping coordinate the event, at (703) 309-6657. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to Doctors without Borders or to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Christine Marie Sadowski

October 14, 1950 - January 14, 2014