The Rev. Dr. Andrea P. Baldyga, MD,
September, 14, 1955 -
February 6, 2019
The Rev. Dr. Andrea Baldyga, MD, died last night, Wednesday, February 6, 2019 in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Mother Andrea served as a priest associate of this parish from 2006-2008.
She was a graduate of the medical school at Boston University, where she also received a degree in music. She completed surgical residencies at the Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and
UNC Chapel Hill, where she did a cardiothoracic Surgery residency, and became only the 44
th
woman to be board certified in cardiothoracic surgery in the United States. After 2 years at Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles, Andrea went to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, OH in 1989 where she had a joint appointment in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Cardiothoracic Surgery as the surgical director of the postoperative cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit.
During her residency at Hartford Hospital, she crossed paths with Father Gerns for the first time while he was doing Clinical Pastoral Education at the same institution.
While in practice at the Cleveland Clinic, Andrea was a teacher, coach and friend of the pastoral care residents, and a member of the committee overseeing their education. She was honored as the Best Pastoral Educator of the Year by the chaplain residents in 1993.
She graduated from the Episcopal Divinity School in 1998. She was ordained in a deacon in 1998 and a priest in 1999.
She served the
Episcopal West Side Shared Ministry
in Cleveland, Ohio, St. Thomas Church in Pittstown, New Jersey, and Interim Vicar at St. Luke's Church in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
Mother Andrea was Priest Associate at Trinity, Easton from May, 2006 until May, 2008 when she became Priest-in-Charge of the Church of the Redeemer in Sayre, Pennsylvania. In 2012, she retired and moved to Massachusetts.
Andrea entered a nursing home about two and a half years ago. Mother Andrea will be cremated and a funeral service will be held at the Church of the Atonement in Westfield, Massachusetts at a date to be determined.
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O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death, and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that your servant Andrea, being raised with him, may know the strength of his presence, and rejoice in his eternal glory; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
