Olga Kuruc

Olga Kuruc, age 91, a fifty-eight year resident of Wayne, passed away Tuesday, February 4, 2020.

She was born to Michael and Anastasia Ratuszny in New York City where Olga’s father served as a building superintendent.  When Olga was a young girl the family moved to 121 Lincoln Avenue in Garfield. Olga graduated from Garfield High School with the Class of 1946.  Before she graduated high school she received a call from the First National Bank in Garfield telling her she had a job as a teller. She worked her way up to Head Saving’s Teller and was a graduate of the American Institute of Banking in Hackensack.

As a young lady Olga attended a dance with a date and met eyes with Paul Kuruc who also was with a date. Paul was trying to learn the English language and thought Olga looked very Americanized and too sophisticated to be interested in him. What Paul didn’t realize is Olga pointed out Paul to her girlfriend and said “see that guy over there…that’s the guy I’m going to marry.”  Olga’s friend laughed and said you don’t even know that guy to which Olga replied there’s no ring on his finger so he’s fair game.  Well a short time later they saw each other at another dance and Paul, feeling more confident in his command of the English language, worked up the nerve to talk to her.  They really hit it off when Paul realized Olga spoke English and Ukrainian which was close enough in dialect to his Slovak language that they could understand each other. They soon fell in love, went to New York City together to choose a diamond ring, and married on September 12, 1953 at Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Passaic.  Olga and Paul honeymooned in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and had a loving and devoted marriage of forty-five years that was blessed with two children, before Paul’s passing in 1998.

Olga will be lovingly remembered as a loving, sweet, caring, kind and generous person.  She was an awesome cook and the special ingredient of love she cooked into her stuffed cabbage, green peppers, and chicken soup will be dearly missed. She loved watching Wheel of Fortune, General Hospital, and most of all she enjoyed Jeopardy because Alex Trebec - as she would tell everyone - was Ukrainian.  Olga was also a dog lover and over the years she had three German Shepherds Bullet, Libra and Sacha.

Olga was the loving wife of forty-five years to the late Paul Kuruc (1998); loving mother of Lois Mary Sharkey and her husband Christopher of Wayne, and Paul Michael Kuruc and his wife Lisa of Wayne; cherished grandmother of Paul and Ava Kuruc; loved sister of the late Stephanie Popovich (d.1979); dearly loved aunt of Donna Quinn and her husband Danny, Bill Popovich and his wife Gerri, Alan Popovich and his wife Sharon; she was also the much loved great-aunt of Ryan and Deanna Quinn, Michael, Tonirenee, Stephanie, and Samantha Popovich.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations to Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, 217 President Street, Passaic, NJ 07055 would be appreciated.