Kozar, Mary

Education

MAry Kozar graduated from Washington Irving High School in Manhattan

Death

Mary Kozar Zuk died on Friday, February 22, 2008, at the Guilderland Center Nursing Home, She was 86.

Obituary

Mary Kozar Zuk Obituary - Altamont Enterprise — February 28, 2008

Mary Zuk

BERNE — Mary Zuk, who was active in her community — with the local school, churches, and farms - was the ambassador of her family, said her son, Alan Zuk.

Mrs. Zuk died on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, at the Guilderland Center Nursing Home, She was 86.

Mrs. Zuk graduated from Washington Irving High School in Manhattan and worked as a secretary in an insurance office in downtown Manhattan for several years. In January of 1942, she married her husband, Paul Zuk,' while he was on leave from military service.

She traveled extensively with her husband during his military training in the United States.

'«fhey Were kind of, I would say, almost like opposites early on in that my mother grew up, primarily, in New York City, and my father was born in the town of Berne," said Alan Zuk. "They hit it off, and, unfortunately, World War II got started, and my dad was drafted into the military as were many, many, many, people. And, as the story goes, while he was on leave, they were iharried and he was sent to the Philippines to do his military obligation for the duration of World War II." 'That's probably the one thing that I'll remember most about her, that she never complained,'

The couple returned to New York City in ±944 and moved to Berne in 1948, where they purchased the former. Austin Shultes farm in 1949. "There is a location at the intersection of High Point Road and Bradt Hollow Road that is known as Zuk's Corners. That is where his parents had a small farm, and that is Where he did his early childhood and attended Middleburgh High School," Alan Zuk said of his father.

After World War II, Paul Zuk was working as an auto mechanic for a taxicab company in New York City. The opportunity came along to purchase the Austin Shultes Farm around 1950; said Alan Zuk. "He purchased it in; partnership, with another gentleman. And the farmhouse was a two-family house. Around. 1957 or so, my father bought- ©ratefcHe^otherhalf of the -partner"shtp'aHdJ c"oMhde^0!6peraite it by himself with our family," he said. "My mother was^ ofcotif s'e, by his side all the time until they sold the farm in 1975. My mother was with him every day, alongside him, doing.the farm chores," he-said.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Zuk grew up during The Great Depression. "I think the goal was to make a success of their farm, and, by virtue of the fact that they grew up during The Great Depression, they knew how to conserve — conserve everything-^ dollars, get bvwijth less than what we would expect to be creature comforts now,'just to get through it all," said Alan Zuk.

As his father had a farm background and his mother grew up with a very industrious, family as Well, they were no strangers to hard work, said Alan Zukv "It was very natural for them to wOrk hard," Mrs. Zuk's hobby was her children, he said. Alan Zuk called his mother "the ambassador of the family."

"I think her interests were, us — the kids," he said.

Mrs. Zuk was active in the Beaverdam and Berne Reformed churches and was a member of the guild.

She was a Sunday-school teacher as well as a Sunday-school superintendent and made sure that her children did well in their high school, studies, Alan Zuk said.

"She was interested in the Farm Bureau^- the success of that organization," he said. Mrs, Zuk served at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Voorheesville as an advisor to people who would call iri with questions about growing plants, Alan Zuk said. She was also involved with the local historical society, the Berrie-Knox-Westerlo School Board, and the Parent-Teacher Association.

In her later years, Mr. Zuk said, "She had very severe arthritis. And she, obviously^ was in pain because of the arthritis— the joint pain — but she rarely complained, rarely complained about that," he skid. "That's probably the one thing that 111 remember most about her, that she never complained."

Mary Zuk is survived by her children, Alan Zuk, and his wife, Mildred, of Berne; Joan Pearson, and her husband, Jonathan, ofGlenville; and Marilyn Warner, and her husband, Dennis, of Amhers, NHi;and by her four grandchildren, Stephanie and Laura Zuk; Jonathan Pearson, and his wife, Sara; and Christopher Pearson- She is also survived by her brother, John Kazan ofRockville, Md.; and severalmeces, nephews, grandnieces, andgrandnephews in the Washington, D.C. area. Her husband, Paul Zuk,-died before her as did her brother; Michael Kozar.

Ajuneral.servicA w.as,:heljd onMesjIiiy, atJhe.Fi?.skReformdvGkurch of Berne.. The FredendullFMeFaiWdrwMi&kaM &v Tangements.

Memorial contributions fnay.be made to the First Reformed Church of Berne, Berne, NY 12022; or to the Helderberg Ambulance Squad, Post Office Box 54; East Berne,, NY 12059.

— Tyler Schilling

Altamont Enterprise — February 28, 2008

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Sources

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