Phyllis "Cookie" Stempien

Age 87
Loving wife of the late Kenneth for 62 years. Proud mother of Paula (Mark) Klozik, Kathy (Andy) Hermann, Mary Ann (Paul) Brefka, Nancy (John) Jason, and Kenny (Jenny). Grandma of 16 and GiGi to 10. Sister of the late Irene (Vince) Seidel, Gene (Mae) Magiera, Steve Magiera, Charles Magiera, Andrew Magiera, and Cass (Midge) Harchick. Sister-in-law of Pearl Magiera.
Cookie loved her family more than anything. Her family was her world. She loved seeing everyone together -laughing, talking, playing games, joking and eating. Her famous Jello squares were her signature treat and requested at every family gathering. She was honest, intuitive, kindhearted, and respectful. She looked for the good in people. She was honest and never had a problem telling you how she felt about something, even when it wasn't asked for. We loved and respected her for that.
She was active in her church during the 70's and 80's and along with her husband Ken, gave blood, sweat and tears to keep the church vibrant. She ran many successful fundraisers for the church, including bingo, rummage and bake sales.
Way before doing puzzles was the thing to do during the pandemic, she was doing puzzles. When you visited, there was always a puzzle on the table that she was working on. Many hours were spent with her, putting in one piece at a time. Once the frame was done, the puzzle was quickly finished.
Cookie loved to play cards. Old Maid, Go Fish and Rummy are family favorites and thanks to her, we never realized that we were learning while having fun. She liked playing board games with us-but most especially the grandchildren and great- grandchilden. She was the biggest cheerleader at her grandchildren's events-dance, gymnastic meets, jump rope competitions, concerts, wrestling meets, football, baseball, basketball or soccer games.
In addition to her family, she loved dogs. All of her dogs were rescues and were great family pets who thrived, except for one who thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. It wasn't.
She loved to bake and couldn't wait to try new recipes. If you took her a zucchini from your garden, you were sure to get zucchini bread or zucchini muffins or zucchini something! She and dad canned and made home-made horse radish. Every year her job was "filler and pincher" for pierogi making day. Over the past 24 years, she approved over 26,000 pierogi before they were boiled.
Cookie loved to have and visit garage sales. She always had puzzles to sell and if you ever bought one of her puzzles, you never had to guess if there were missing pieces since she would write "-0" or "-1" on the back of each box and initial it.
The shock of losing her husband Ken 4 short months ago was hard for her. She earned our admiration in how she handled her grief and continued to live and thrive. She was one tough COOKIE.
Visitation Thursday 2 pm – 8 pm with a 7:00 pm Scripture Service at the John N. Santeiu & Son Funeral Home. In state Friday, 10 am until the 10:30 am Funeral Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Garden City.
Memorial may be made to the family.