Patricia Elaine (Okal) Kopko

Patricia Elaine (Okal) Kopko formerly of Yonkers passed away on July 16, 2021 at Regency Grande in Dover NJ at age 92. Patricia was born on June 11, 1929 in Yonkers NY to Conrad and Paraska (Crill) Okal. She graduated from Commerce HS in 1946. Patricia was a secretary to Dr. Ashley, the head of Vocational Education in the Board of Education in the early 1950s. Later she worked as a secretary for the New York Telephone Company until 1963.

She married Frank Kopko on October 29, 1960 at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church. They lived in Yonkers until 2011 when they moved to New Jersey and enjoyed their days with the Sunrise West Essex community. After the passing of her dear husband in 2020, she lived at Regency Grande in Dover, NJ. She was a parishioner of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Church and St. Eugene’s Church in Yonkers. Patricia is survived by her son Robert (Stephanie) of Cary, NC; 2 daughters Laurie Kopko Cox of Beach Haven, NJ and Mary (Timothy) Carter of Cary, NC; 7 grandchildren Christine Cox (Dave) West, Steven (Julia) Cox, Ryan Kopko, Sean Kopko, Alexandra Simmons, CJ Simmons and Kaitlyn Simmons; 4 great grandchildren Alexa West, Jack West, Axel West, and Blaise Cox as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great and great-great nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents Paraska and Conrad and her sisters Martha Eastman, Dorothy Fabiszewski and Marion Urda.

Words from her family: Patricia loved her husband Frank of more than 59 years. She was a devoted wife and mother who was so proud of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She stopped working when she had her children and was always there with treats when they came home from school, with a listening ear to hear about their day. She enjoyed bowling, baking desserts, playing card games and was forever a Yankees fan. She passed on Ukrainian traditions celebrating Christmas and Easter with special foods like pierogi, kielbasa, and taught her children how to make homemade bread (paska). She wrote special songs for each of her children and grandchildren when they were born – she was a wonderfull piano player. She wrote little rhymes, and placed special notes in her children’s lunch boxes with puzzles and jumbles to solve. She will be remembered for her kindness, love, compassion and wonderful sense of humor. Her nieces and nephews remember her as a saint, some still recalling how she’d make special goodie bags for their long car ride home. She touched the lives of the many people with whom she came in contact – calling those that helped care for her during her more recent years her “special angels”. She was a devote Catholic and was part of the Golden Agers at St. Michael’s. She enjoyed volunteering with Frank at Sprain Brook Manor Nursing Home in Scarsdale throughout the 1980s and 90s. She has lifelong friends for more than 70 years. She enjoyed eating dinners out with friends and was known to check out the dessert menu first. She will be greatly missed. We are grateful and blessed to have had her here on earth for more than 92 years.

Should anyone desire memorial donations may be made in her name to St. Barnabas medical center Emergency Response Fund 94 Old Short Hills Road Livingston, NJ 07039. www.RJB.org/saint-barnabas-medical-center/giving/give-now/