Thressa Stretchko Surdick

Thressa Stretchko Surdick, 74, died while vacationing in Central Florida, at 12:06 a.m., Monday, February 20, 2017, from complications of pneumonia. She was surrounded by her husband, Joseph F. Surdick, her son, John Surdick, her daughter, Kim Kelly, and her sister, Carlotta Yelenosky.

Thressa was born October 14, 1942, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the youngest of six children, to John Stretcho and Mary Kaschalk. After graduating from Nanty-Glo High School, where she was a band majorette, she moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a secretary for the Federal Aviation Agency. She married Joe, the love of her life, in 1962. Together they moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and after, moved to Dunkirk, Maryland, where they remained for 27 years. Thressa worked for the Census Bureau and finally for NIS (k/n/a NCIS) as a crime investigation specialist. After retiring in 1996, she and Joe relocated to Penn National in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.

Thressa was an active golfer, an avid card and game player, as well as member in the Penn National Harmony Chorus. She loved the beach, to dance, boating, picking berries, relaxing with a glass of bourbon or wine. Thressa also loved cooking and entertaining for her family and many friends that brought everyone together which she loved the most.

Thressa loved visiting her grandchildren, being a part of their lives, and watching them play sports. Many times traveling across several states in a weekend to see them all play. She was known for her energy & enthusiasm and was jokingly nicknamed the ‘Energizer Bunny’. One of her greater experiences in life was traveling 10,000 miles cross-country in a minivan with her husband Joe, her sister Carlotta, and brother-in-law George.

Some of her more memorable life events include her starting a fire in the backseat of her brother Sam’s car; swallowing her wedding ring; caving in the back of her son’s truck; parking her convertible horizontally in the garage (we still don’t know how); and giving her husband, with whom she had been fighting at the time, a gallon of Avocado Green paint without the lid, which he subsequently, violently shook to mix the paint. Neither Joe nor the kitchen were permanently harmed in this fiasco.

Thressa was the central core of her family and her greatest joys, besides Joe and her children, were her grandchildren, for whom she shared a special relationship with each. She loved each one, was extremely proud of them, and would have done anything for them.

She also shared a special relationship with her niece, Stephanie, and her adopted daughter, Evie, for whom Thressa traveled to China and helped bring home.

Thressa is survived by her husband, Joe; her son John, and his wife, Marisa (Odenton, MD); her daughter, Kim, and her husband, Chris (Huntingtown, MD); three sisters, Marie Henry (Newark, DE), Pauline Mutchka (Delaware City, DE), and Carlotta Yelenosky (Apopka, FL); six grandchildren, Brian (Mount St. Mary’s University), Johnny (United States Military Academy), Jenna (University of Maryland), Timmy (College of Southern Maryland), Jacob (DeMatha Catholic High School), and Jack (Cardinal Hickey Academy); and several nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Francis (“Sam”) Stretchko and John (“Jack”) Stretchko.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 4, 2017 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 320 Philadelphia Ave, Chambersburg, PA 17201. (corpuschristichambersburg.org)

A reception to follow at The Inn at Ragged Edge, 1090 Ragged Edge Road, Chambersburg, PA 17202. (www.theinnatraggededge.com)

In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Thressa may be made personally through a random act of kindness or monetarily to the Arthritis Foundation National Office, 1355 Peachtree St NE, Suite 600, Atlanta, GA 30309, www.arthritis.org.