Obituary of Frances Kopcsik

After an 8 ½ year battle with ovarian cancer, Frances B. "Penny" Kopcsik died peacefully at home on Monday evening, surrounded by her loving family. She lived most of her life in some corner of the Garden State. Raised in Interlaken, Penny spent brief stints in Maryland at Hood College, from which she was graduated, and New York City, where she worked in advertising and where she met her husband. Returning to New Jersey to help her husband start an orthodontics practice and raise a family, they settled in Mendham, NJ where they have lived for over forty years. There, Penny was an active and enthusiastic participant in her adopted hometown. She was a long-time member of Hilltop Presbyterian Church, serving as a deacon and elder, among other roles. She served on the Mendham planning board for twenty years and participated in other land use and environmental planning activities as well. She was also involved in many volunteer activities throughout the community, including the League of Women Voters, Meals on Wheels, Somerset Hills Visiting Nurse Association, and for many decades, the Morristown soup kitchen. Several years ago, she was asked to serve as the Grand Marshall of the Mendham Labor Day Parade and agreed to do so only if her grandchildren could join her in the Grand Marshall's car. Having lived a life full of quiet strength, grace, and humility, she always will be cherished by those family and friends who had the good fortune to be part of her life. Penny is survived by her mother, Frances Fettner; her husband of forty-seven years, David; her three children and their spouses: Jonathan (wife, Paige), Mila, and Jeremy (wife, Kara); and her three grandchildren, Holden, Jordan, and Griffin. Her family is extraordinarily grateful to the doctors, nurses, and medical staff at Morristown Medical Center's Carol G. Simon Cancer Center for their intensely dedicated effort to help Penny fight her lengthy battle. Following a private burial, a memorial service will be held at Hilltop Presbyterian Church on Saturday, February 22, 2014, beginning at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, her family requests that contributions be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at ocrf.org or the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills at 200 Mt. Airy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ 07869.Arrangements by the Bailey Funeral Home of Mendham. www.baileyfuneral.com