Photo courtesy of Smits Funeral Home - Dyer
Jan 1, 1926 - Feb 10, 2020 (Age 94)
The Peace Hospice team wishes to express our sincere condolences to Virginia's family and friends. We are honored that we could provide care and companionship to her and her family on her final journey. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
March 03, 2020
Ginny was and always will be a loving woman I will never forget. I was able to spend quality time with her and she was a huge influence on my life. She will be fondly remembered. I love you Ginny!
Theresa Newson Tabitha House Graduate
Theresa Newson
February 29, 2020 | East Chicago, IN | Friend
So sorry for your loss!
Gary Burgeson
February 28, 2020 | Highland, IN | Friend
Jenny was such a sweet caring person. She was very kind to myself and my children. I know she is happy in heaven with her husband Ed and son John. I have sweet memories of this lovely Christain lady.
Linda Roberts
February 26, 2020 | Highland, IN | Friend
Living Spirit Dishgarden
a loved one
February 25, 2020
What a blessing this lovely lady was in my childhood memories! She was very loving and positive! Unknowingly, she was the mother that I wish I could have had! I'll always remember ALL the Kotynski family and the wonderful times and great memories I had with them! Sincerely,
Cathy Emond Roach
Gainesville, GA
Cathy Roach
February 24, 2020 | Gainesville, GA | Neighbor
May your hearts soon be filled with wonderful memories of joyful times together as you celebrate a life well lived, and praying God's comfort for you. Until we also shall bow in humble adoration before our Saviour, And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
Phil & Debbie Mullens
February 24, 2020 | Merrillville, IN | Friend
Dearest Mary. I was so sorry to hear from Lorraine about the passing of your mom. May God embrace you and your family with comfort and precious memories of a mother so special to many.
Georgia Sims
February 23, 2020 | East Chicago, IN
What an honor to call her my friend along with so many others that considered it a blessing to have her in their lives hearing her beautiful voice singing praises to Jesus with a smile and a glow on her face.Such precious memories.She was all about others and Jesus Psa 139:13-18 were very meaningful to her and it is very comforting to know she just fell asleep and awoke in heaven.HOW GLORIOUS!WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT.
Betty pynakker
February 18, 2020 | BRADENTON, FL
Virginia J. (Ginny) Kotynski, 94, the mother of nine and a deeply committed Christian, died Feb. 10 of natural causes in a North Aurora, IL nursing home. She had been suffering from memory loss.
Visitation will be at 4-8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28, at Smits, DeYoung-Vroegh Chapel, 649 E 162nd St, South Holland, IL, and 9-10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 29 at Spirit of God Church, 16350 State St, South Holland, with the funeral following at the church 10 a.m., and burial at Memory Lane Cemetery in Schererville, IN.
She was born Virginia Peifer on Jan. 1, 1926 in Chicago, IL, to Marie Peifer and raised as the youngest of nine children in Hammond, IN by maternal grandparents Joseph and Sophie Peifer. She was a graduate of Catholic Central High School (Bishop Noll) in 1944 and after graduation worked at Walgreen’s in downtown Hammond, where she met her future husband Edward S. Kotynski. They married June 7, 1947 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hammond.
The marriage, which lasted 50 years until Edward’s death in 1997, produced 9 children, 27 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. All of Ginny’s children were born by Caesarian section. A life-long story was how her grandfather, Joseph Peifer, rescued her from that orphanage and lovingly took her in as his own.
The Kotynskis, who had raised their family in the Hessville section of Hammond, moved to South Holland, where they spent their retirement.
Mrs. Kotynski, less than 5 feet tall, had a bubbly and optimistic personality. She loved children and devoted her life to her family and faith. Having raised so many children on a limited budget she learned how to stretch a dollar and she delighted in finding thrift store bargains. She had an opera-quality soprano voice with which she enlivened her household, singing the pop standards and show tunes of the 30s, 40s and 50s. She had an eye and hand for art and could draw a steady line until her death.
She was very involved in her church and the Tabitha House ministry in South Holland to rehabilitate women with troubled lives. In 2012 she received the Restoration Ministries’ “Rose Award” for her work with Tabitha House.
Mrs. Kotynski is preceded in death by her husband (1997), son, John (1994), and grandson, Brett Edward Peterson (1980).
Her survivors include sons Thomas (Kathryn), Great Falls, MT; Edward (Janet), North Aurora, IL; Robert (Becki), Valparaiso, IN; Fredric (Debra), Naples, FL; and Daniel, Indianapolis, IN ; and daughters Mari (Bruce) Peterson, St. Joseph, MI; Alice McNary, Orland Park, IL; and Janet (Kevin) Hewitt, Sherwood, OR; a half-sister Maryann Bocock, Cedar Lake, IN and half-brothers Tim Bush, Thornton, CO, and Joe Bush, Foley, AL. Half-brother, Bill Bush, preceded her in death.
In Memoriam donations suggested to: Restoration Ministries (restorationministries.net); Wycliffe Bible Translators Ed and Janet Kotynski (Wycliffe.org); or Finish the Mission (ftm2030.org)
The family is profoundly grateful to Sylvia Helser for her friendship with Ginny and loving attention at the end of life.
John 3:16, Psalms 91:14-15, Proverbs 10:7
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