Mildred D. Kitlowski was known to her family as being "fiercely independent" all of her life.

But to others, she was simply known as a woman who had a passion for taking care of anyone in need, said her son, Christian Kitlowski.

Mrs. Kitlowski, of Shadyside, a nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Lawrenceville for more than 25 years, died of cancer on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at the Baptist Home of Western Pennsylvania, Mt. Lebanon. She was 97.

"She always did what she wanted to do and never had any regrets. She never looked back," her son said.

Mrs. Kitlowski was born Feb. 14, 1908, in Altoona, Blair County, where she was raised. She moved to the Pittsburgh area after deciding to enroll in St. Francis Nursing School.

While she was an obstetrics nurse at St. Francis Hospital, she met Dr. Henry F. Kitlowski, an ear, nose and throat specialist. After the two married, they lived on Walnut Street in Shadyside, where they raised five children.

Mrs. Kitlowski didn't decide to retire until she was 76.

She bowled until she was 91 and was a member of a senior citizens league at Forward Lanes in Squirrel Hill.

A lover of art, Mrs. Kitlowski held season tickets for the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

An avid reader, she was a member of a Shadyside book club for 50 years.

"She always taught me to look forward in life and never look backward. She never looked behind, but instead always looked to see what she was going to do in the next day," Christian Kitlowski said.

Mrs. Kitlowski's husband died in 1958 and she was also preceded in death by a son, Jan Kitlowski, who died in 2001.

She is survived by four children, Dr. Claudia Berenson, of Tijeras, N.M., Dr. Noel Kitlowski, of Aurora, Colo., Christian Kitlowski, of Mt. Lebanon, and Kevin Kitlowski, of Chambersburg, Franklin County; 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at McCabe Bros. Inc. Funeral Home, 6214 Walnut St., Shadyside. A service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the funeral home, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church, Shadyside.

The family asks that memorials be in the form of donations to the American Cancer Society.

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