Mira R. Szemplinski

Mira Szemplinski died on August 13, 2025 at home in Tamworth, New Hampshire. She was born on May 8, 1926 in Łódź , Poland, the daughter of Eugenia and Władysław Jaworski.

Mira survived World War II, studying at an underground school, risking her life daily. Together with her mom, she was sent to Germany to labor while her father was a POW in a German camp. After the war, she continued her education at the University in Łódź, getting her master’s degree in microbiology. After graduating, she worked for a few pharmaceutical companies in Warsaw, gaining great experience in the field. Finally, she earned a job as a scientist in the Institute for Nuclear Research, where she worked as assistant professor until her departure for the US in 1978. She came to US, remarried and started working in Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General Hospital. She and her husband, Andrew, lived in Lowell, MA and attended mass at Holy Trinity Church in Lowell. When she got a job offer from Merck, they both moved to New Jersey, where they stayed until retirement in 1991.

Mira and Andrew enjoyed life together, traveling, entertaining, spending holidays with children and grandchildren. When retirement came, they moved to New Hampshire and lived in Londonderry, Windham and Hudson. When her daughter Elizabeth’s family emigrated to the US in 1992, and Mira took care of her granddaughter, Ula, while her parents worked. Mira and Andrew spent every holiday, birthday, and other important events, with their children and grandchildren. After her beloved husband passed away in 2006, she took adventures to Europe, visiting historic places, and seeing relatives in Poland.

She enjoyed every moment of life, and was always optimistic and loving. She used her exceptional memory and fluency in five languages to continue to dazzle friends and family alike. She wrote her biography with amazing details of her long life. For the last 19 years, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Derry, Hampstead, and then in Tamworth NH.

She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Richard Lewandowski; granddaughter Ula Lewandowski; grandson Maciek Lewandowski and his wife Molly; stepchildren Anna Keena and her children Johnny Keena, Amanda Soares with family; stepson Jack Szemplinski and his wife Maria, and their children Andrea Burke with her family, and Mark Szemplinski with family.

She was an amazing person, sharing her love of life and the people in it. She will be missed.

A Funeral Mass will be held on August 25, 2025 at 10AM at the Holy Trinity Church, 340 High St, Lowell MA. Interment will follow immediately after Mass, at the Holy Trinity Cemetery, 155 Boston Rd, Lowell MA. A reception will follow.