9/19/39 - 8/01/08
Elizabeth "Betty" Zukowski, of Clarks Summit, died Friday at Mercy Hospital after an illness. She was the widow of Felix Zukowski Sr., who died June 14, 1998.
Born in South Scranton, daughter of the late James and Evelyn Butler Coggins, she was a graduate of South Scranton Central Catholic High School and a member of Our Lady of the Snows Church.
Betty lived an unselfish life and was more concerned with the comfort and happiness of others than her own. She was a gentle, kind and generous mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. Many refer to her as a saint, and that she most certainly was. She loved spending time with her family and, most especially, visiting every relative at Christmas. She greatly enjoyed playing cards, frequenting the casinos, boating at the lake with her daughter, Rosanne, and family, line-dancing, traveling, crafting, playing shuffleboard at the Liederkranz, singing karaoke with her sister and faithful sidekick, and hanging out with the girls. Her personality was so very friendly and outgoing, it made her a friend to everyone she met. She was the epitome of kindness, generosity, compassion and trueness to her Christian faith. She was a true example of what family, love and life are all about. Nobody enjoyed life more than she did. Through every hardship, she was able to see God's hands at work. Betty was always positive and full of hope. God truly took a saint to heaven to make it an even more beautiful place. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
Her family extends a thank-you to the entire family and to her friends, whose love and support was a true tribute to this woman. She adored her nieces and nephews and her beautiful goddaughter, Evie Rafalko McNulty. She loved all of her family greatly.
Surviving are two sons, Felix Zukowski Jr. and his children, Ryan, Eric, Abigail and Elizabeth, and George Zukowski and wife, Kathy, all of Scranton; two daughters, Laura Smith, and her children, John, Julia and Will; and Rosanne Robbins and husband, Glenn, and their son, Gregory, with whom she resided, all of Clarks Summit; her first great-grandchild, Jason, Clarks Summit; two sisters, Nancy Rafalko, Minooka section; and Jean Travis, Scranton, who were her best friends; a brother, Jerry Coggins, and wife, June, Scranton; a sister-in-law and good friend, Helen Coggins, Minooka section; nieces and nephews.
She was also preceded in death by a brother, James Coggins Jr., and a very dear friend, Donald "Santa Claus" Rosenkrans. The funeral will be Tuesday at 9:15 a.m. from the Neil W. Regan Funeral Home Inc., 1900 Pittston Ave., with Mass at 10 in Our Lady of the Snows Church, 301 South State St., Clarks Summit. Interment, Fairview Memorial Park, Elmhurst.
STORY
She did not know she had this disease until it was too late. The doctors in our area had no clue. One cardiologist said the heart looked amyloid from seeing the echocardiogram before her surgery, but they chose to ignore this & proceed with her surgery without testing her. She had surgery for a valve replacement & never recovered because it turned out she did have the disease. The surgeon said as he was operating, he felt the heart was hard & then remembered what the cardiologist said. He had to research this disease on the internet because he knew nothing about it. She responded to us a few days after the surgery by shaking her head yes or no. We thought she was going to be ok because she had some good days. They finally told us on August 1st that she would never be able to breathe on her own & that the medicines she was on were keeping her alive. They slowly took her off her medicines & disconnected her breathing tube. My mother died shortly after this. She really never had a chance. She was in better health before she went into the hospital. I wish that she was diagnosed correctly, she was sick for 8 months sent for test after test & they couldn't figure out what was wrong. I did send her doctor a letter about this disease, so another family doesn't have to go through what we did. We definitely need more awareness in this area.