Vernita Louise (Bucynski) Kaminski

Kaminski, Vernita Louise (Bucynski), 95, passed away February 2, 2025. She was born on 18 Feb 1929 in Lilly, Cambria Co., PA, the youngest child of Thomas Bucynski of Zrecin, Krosno District, Poland and Antonette (a.k.a. Anne) Machnicki, whose family hailed from Tarnów, Poland. She was the last surviving Bucynski sibling, and was preceded in death by her parents, five brothers (Leo, Albin, Lawrence, Joseph, and Edwin) and four sisters (Genevieve, Phyllis, Evelyn and Helen). Vernita attended school in Lilly, were she acquired the nickname “Susie” (after the flower “Black-eyed Susan”). While growing up in Lilly, she helped with work on the family farm in Munster Township. Two weeks after graduating Lilly High School in 1947, Susie packed a single suitcase and boarded a train to New York City, where she joined her sisters Evelyn and Helen, who were then living in Astoria, Queens, NY. Her sister Helen had secured a job for Suzie in the Broadway offices of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. She was married to Michael Kaminski (son of John Kaminski and Catherine Chrobak of Lilly) on Halloween Day, 1953, in Astoria, NY. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Suzie and Mike then moved to Passaic, N.J. where Mike was employed at the Manhattan Shirt Co. They later lived in Wallington, N.J., and in Hawthorne, N.J., where they purchased a house and raised four children (Michael, Mary, Matthew, and Maurice Kaminski). In Hawthorne, Suzie had assumed the role of mother and homemaker, and she helped raise three grandchildren. In 2002, Suzie and Mike retired to the Bucynski family home in Lilly to look after her sister Helen Peters in her old age. Helen passed away in June 2006, and Mike passed away in October 2012. Suzie continued to reside in the family home until she fell and broke her hip in January 2025, passing away from complications a week later. Suzie is survived by her four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Friends received from 4-8 p.m. Friday, February 14, 2025 at the Serenko-Claar Funeral Home, PC, Portage. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on February 15, 2025 at Our Lady of the Alleghenies, Lilly. Father Matthew Reese, celebrant. Committal in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Lilly. May she rest in peace.

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