Anna Kuntzevich (or “Grannie Annie” as she was affectionately known to many) of Wayne NJ, passed away peacefully on Thursday, December 28, 2023. She was 105.

In 1918, the year of the influenza epidemic and shortly after her parents, Gregory and Agatha Kulak, immigrated from Russia to New York City, Anna was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was the first of their five children to be born in America; Anna was followed by her four siblings, brother Al, sisters Helen and Olga, and brother Richard. When she was one year old the family moved to the Lower East side of Manhattan.

Anna’s stories recalling early childhood speak fondly of simple, yet often difficult times. Back then it was oil lamps, ice boxes and overcrowded apartments where baths were taken in a metal tub in the kitchen. There was also the Great Depression to contend with. When she was about twelve, the family moved to 340 Powell Street in Brooklyn, NY where she lived and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School with the Class of 1936. During her high school years, Anna found work watching her teacher’s two children at their lake house during the summer. After high school she learned to be a bookkeeper while working for Steinberg Brothers Stone Cutters in Brooklyn, a skill that would serve her well throughout her life.

As a youngster, Anna was spry and athletically inclined - she played basketball - loved animals and also began to get in touch with her spirituality. Inspired by an older neighbor, she joined her local Russian Orthodox Church and eventually, as she got older, became a contributing member of that community.

Anna met a handsome young man named John Kuntzevich one day while hanging out in Brooklyn. He came by wearing a white sweater with a big “J” on it, asking if anyone had a cigarette. Anna offered one of hers and when she did, both a cigarette and a romance were lit that day. Their first date was to Melnick’s Place, a bar and grill in Brooklyn. They soon fell in love while the United States was being drawn into World War II.

Eventually John proposed to Anna saying, “I’m going to enlist in the Navy and I’d like to be married before I go.” Anna was simultaneously delighted and scared when she replied “I Do” on May 31, 1942. They married on a Sunday, Memorial Day, at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church on Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn and honeymooned at Rova Farms in Jackson, New Jersey. Anna followed John to Virginia after he enlisted but he was soon sent overseas and so she returned to live with her parents in Brooklyn.

After serving in the Navy with The Seabees John was honorably discharged on November 20, 1945 and returned to live with Anna and her family until they found an apartment. They lived in city housing in Brooklyn, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut before settling into a co-op in the Howard Beach section of Queens. John became a NYC Police Officer. “He was a sharpshooter” Anna always likes to remind us in her Brooklyn accent.

Together John and Anna had two daughters, Barbara and Dianna, who they raised in Brooklyn. Barbara and Dianna brought four grandchildren into Anna's life, Timothy, Christin, Kelly, and Erin. Her beloved grandchildren collectively gifted Anna with three great grandchildren, Katelynn, Fletcher and Griffin.

As the matriarch of the family, Anna’s mother-bear instincts and generous nature always had her looking out for and taking care of family. Her tireless work-ethic, love for numbers and lively sense of humor often found her employed in a number of creative environments. An “office manager” of sorts, on any given day, her responsibilities could range from bookkeeping to styling props for photo-shoots. One of her most memorable experiences was spending a day taking care of a chimpanzee named Zippy. Anna's fondness for people and conversation, combined with her willingness to contribute, made her an integral and adored member of her work and church communities. She credits her lifelong daily regimen of black coffee, dark chocolate and a heaping bowl of ice cream for keeping her going all these years.

Anna and John were happily married for 66 years until John passed in 2008 at the age of 89. She always held tight to the words John uttered years earlier “I will give you all the love and happiness you could hold.”

Anna was the loving wife of the late John Kuntzevich (2008); devoted mother of the late Barbara Kucynda (2018) and her husband Father Paul Kucynda of Jackson NJ, and Diana Hurley of Bloomingdale; cherished grandmother of Tim Kucynda, Christin Messina, Kelly Chabebe, Erin Schissel; much loved great-grandmother of Kaitlyn, Fletcher, and Griffin.  She was predeceased by two brothers Alexander and Richard Kulak and two sisters Helen Sharko and Olga Hudyma.