Plan for the Future
Amazing Mary-
Mary Kostick (Kicak) entered into her eternal rest on 5/1/23. Mary was born in Whippany in 1924, and graduated Morristown High School “42”. After graduation, Mary began her career as an office manager and then an executive secretary, which she both loved and excelled in. In her spare time, Mary enjoyed polka music and developed a love of polka dancing with her many friends. One night a handsome young man asked Mary to dance and told her at the end of the song that someday he was going to marry her! Her response was ” we’ll see!”. The pair went onto enjoy polka dancing and waltzing, winning dance contests. They married in 1955 and moved to Jersey City, later to Morris Plains. Daughters Susan and Barbara were their pride and joy. Family meant the world to Mary and there was no such thing as in-law, if you married in, you were family. She especially loved Rob, Barbara’s husband as if he were her own. Mary poured her love into her grandchildren, attending sporting events, school programs, dance recitals, graduations, and every family event, including a 12/30/22 wedding of her granddaughter. She did not want to miss a thing. She had a zest for life, wanting to be part of everything. Mary was a source of wisdom, common sense, strength in difficult times- an example for us all. Mary was frugal but generous, non-opinionated, non-judgmental. She loved unconditionally.
Mary’s faith was strong- a proud Ukrainian and equally dedicated member of St John’s Ukrainian Catholic Church- of which she was enthusiastic that her father was instrumental in obtaining resources to build that 1st church. Mary was well known for her gifts of homemade brownies to family and friends. In addition, she loved to cook especially holupchi, pierogies and cabbage soup. She believed sauerkraut was the key to longevity…(she was almost 99 when she passed on. ) She loved watching nature shows, especially of birds. She enjoyed her canaries and her dog Esha. Mary’s true gift to us was her teaching on gratitude. She let her family know every day how grateful she was to be cared for so lovingly at home by her family. She was concerned for her family’s well-being when she would pass and gave family care instructions to follow- as only a truly loving mother could do. Her favorite saying was “everything has a way of working out, don’t worry.” She was everyone’s wise counselor time and time again.
She is survived by her sister, Margaret Kicak; daughters Susan Kostick & Barbara Maday and spouse Rob, Grandson Michael Fletcher and fiancé Megan, Granddaughter Kristen Grawehr and spouse Conner, Granddaughter Caity Bukowski and spouse Rob, great granddaughters Claire and Mollie.
A visitation will be held on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 from 4pm to 8pm at Bradley Braviak Funeral Home, 49 Whippany Road, Whippany. On Thursday, May 4th, 2023 a funeral mass will be held at St John’s Church, 60 North Jefferson Rd, Whippany, NJ beginning at 10am. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary’s memory can be made to St Johns Church 60 North Jefferson Rd, Whippany NJ 07981 or St Jude Hospital 501 St Jude Pl Memphis TN 38105.