Stelle Diakun Gadek

Stelle Diakun Gadek, 101-½, of Perth Amboy, NJ, and Gaithersburg, MD, passed away on December 13, 2025, at home, surrounded by many who loved her. She was born June 1, 1924, in Perth Amboy, NJ, one of six children of two Ukrainian immigrants who met in New Jersey: Andrew Diakun and Rose Sobolak. The whole Diakun family was deeply involved with the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Perth Amboy, where a teen-aged Stelle sang in the choir and made lifelong friendships. She graduated from Perth Amboy High School at age 16, completed additional secretarial training, and worked briefly for Travelers Insurance Company, until meeting and marrying her handsome, beloved Ukrainian husband, Peter Gadek, at age 23.

Stelle stayed at home with Joan, their only child, until Joan left for college. Stelle then began a new career as a secretary in her old alma mater, Perth Amboy High School, and worked there for a decade until her retirement. Together she and Pete enjoyed a rich social life with their friends and were also the hub of their extended families for decades, hosting many holiday meals and barbecues. As a hostess, Stelle could not relax until everybody at the table ate too much. She enjoyed lots of solo outings too. Her "Ghost" ladies (10 church friends) met weekly for decades, occasionally for prayer but always for desserts and cocktails. At work, she and her work friends regularly celebrated their birthdays.

Stelle and Pete visited both sets of their aging parents daily, helping them until all four had passed. All her life, Stelle remained kind and generous to everyone, even occasionally to a fault. If she saw a stranger who needed help, she'd help them if she could, otherwise dispatch her own helpers (or daughter) to do it.

Stelle had a lifelong love of reading novels (mostly mysteries), baking fabulous desserts, gossiping with her sisters and friends, searching in vain for luck at the slots, and drinking a finely balanced Scotch and water. Like all her family, she loved food. But despite growing up near the Jersey shore, she refused to eat fish of any kind, yet liked it if she occasionally ate it unknowingly.

Stelle was predeceased by her husband, Peter, in 2001. In 2011, after 10 years of living alone and at 87 years young, she left the only town she had ever known, to move near Joan in Gaithersburg, MD. In Stelle's new retirement community (Asbury Methodist Village), she quickly made new friends from her hallway and from Joan's friends, did volunteer work for Asbury, enjoyed countless movies and good restaurants with Joan, and stayed up late most nights reading a good book, which she made sure she was never without. After several busy, happy years, her health began slowly to decline. She was assisted in her final years by a village of caregivers who are angels in human form. Her parents and five siblings (Helen Motorney, Marie Yaros, Ann Johnston, Olga Kanuschak, and John Diakun) all predeceased her. She alone made it to 100 and beyond, certainly due to the care she got from her earthly angels and possibly due to the Scotch and water she loved right up to the last week of her life.

Visitation will be on Friday, December19, 2025, from 6-8 PM at the Flynn and Son Funeral Home, 23 Ford Ave., Fords, NJ, 08863. Funeral services will begin Saturday, December 20, at 9:15 AM at the funeral home and then proceed to a 10 AM Service of Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption in Perth Amboy. At the conclusion of the Liturgy, mourners are invited to lunch at The Armory Restaurant, 200 Front Street, Perth Amboy.

Cremation will take place in the near future. Stelle will reach her final resting place next to her husband and near her whole family, in Spring 2026, in the Ukrainian Cemetery in Hopelawn, NJ.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider making a donation to any of the charities below.

For Ukrainian soldiers and military aid:

Come Back Alive Foundation
United Help Ukraine
Hospitallers Volunteer Medical Battalion

For Ukrainian families in need:

Ukrainian American Red Cross Society

Razom for Ukraine

Nova Ukraine

Direct Relief

For Ukrainian orphans and children affected by war:

Voices of Children Foundation

Save the Children

UNICEF USA