Anastazja "Nancy" Pacolak

Mrs. Anastazja Pacolak, lovingly known as “Nancy” to her family and friends, entered the heavenly kingdom on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.

On Monday, April 6th., from 11:30-11:45AM everyone is invited to gather in the parking lot of the Kowalski Funeral Home, 515 Roselle Street, Linden to form the traditional funeral procession.  The prayers of committal will be offered for Nancy by the Reverend Thomas Shubeck and Cantor Alan Rachel, both of St. George Byzantine Catholic Church, Linden prior to her burial in the family plot in Rosehill Cemetery.  The family has requested that you please omit flowers and/or donations.  

Nancy, the daughter of the late Mary Chomyszak Kotys and the late Szimon Kotys, was born in Wola Wyzna, Poland.  She came to the United States in 1961 and she lived in Roselle, New Jersey for three years before settling in Linden in 1965.

Nancy worked in the housekeeping department of the Cornell Care & Rehabilitation Center in Union for over twenty years prior to her well-deserved retirement in 2003.

Nancy’s life held many facets.  She, along with her late husband, John, was a devoted member of St. George Byzantine Catholic Church in Linden.  Her home life was truly her pride and joy.  She was a fabulous cook, and Nancy took such great pride in being able to always prepare home-cooked meals for her family.  No one ever left Nancy’s table hungry!  She was gifted with two green thumbs.  Nancy loved to be outside, tending to her gardens, which flourished with enormous vegetables, as well as the fragrant bouquets of the many flowers she nurtured.  Nancy’s love of nature continued to translate to the interior of her home, where there was an abundance of thriving houseplants that somehow emoted quiet beauty and life.  In her earlier years she loved to watch her “Channel 2 stories” and recently Nancy was a devotee of the reruns of “Mama’s Family”.  All in all, if you put all the pieces of the puzzle together that made up Nancys character, you would find a quiet dynamo of a woman who was devoted to her husband, her family, her home and her faith. 

This is not to say that life was always rosey for Nancy, as she had her share of heartaches and suffering.  She endured the loss of her husband, John Pacolak in 2003; her daughter, Linda Maureen Pacolak in 1965, her sister, Anna Onyszkanycz and her brother, Nicholas Kotys.  Nancy is survived by her son, John R. Pacolak; her daughter, Patricia “Patty” Pacolak; her brother, Michael Kotys and her brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Nancy’s shining light has dimmed in her earthly home, but we know that it will continue to shine brightly as she now finds Eternal Memory, Vechnaya Pamyat.