Estelle Burkowski Burke, 96
• Legal Secretary, Active in Many Nutley Organizations
May 26, 2012 – Estelle Bukowski Burke (nee Kostyra) peacefully passed away on Friday, May 25, 2012. Stell, as she was widely known, was born in New York City on April 6, 1916, and her family moved to Jersey City when she was four years of age. She moved to Nutley and had lived in the same home since 1949.
She worked as an executive secretary to three generations of the Dear family, former owners of The Jersey Journal. She also was a legal secretary to attorneys and judges in the Office of The New Jersey Attorney General in the Trial and Legal Division for 15 years, retiring in 1976.
She served as President and Secretary of the Catholic Women's Club of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, and was a member of the Women's Auxiliary and the Golden Age Club in Nutley.
Stell was a woman of striking physical beauty through all the last years of her life and had an equally beautiful soul. Even in her last days, she still brought smiles to her family and the caretakers who were so kind to her. She will be remembered always for her love of life and her love for her family. She truly was one of a kind and the world won't be as much fun without her.
She was predeceased by her husband, Theodore J. Bukowski, her parents Frank and Helena Kostyra, her brothers Edward and Henrick Kostyra, and her companion of 20 years, Samuel W. Brown.
Stell is survived by two daughters, Diane and husband William Craig Carey, and Leona and husband Charles Sonn; three grandsons, Andrew (and Erin) Sonn, Peter (and Jennifer) Sonn, and Sean (and Dawn) Carey, and five great-grandchildren who loved and enjoyed "Grandma B" so much, Julia, Kevin, Drew, Matthew, and Camille, as did her many cousins, nieces and nephews. She also had the gift of generations of wonderful and caring neighbors, friends and parishioners.
Visiting at the S. W. Brown & Son Funeral Home, www.swbrownandson.com, 267 Centre St., Nutley, on Wednesday from 2- 4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral mass 10 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 120 Prospect St., Nutley. Interment will follow at the Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the Nutley Emergency & Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 172, Nutley, NJ 07110 would be appreciated.
