Gertrude M. Kopczynski

COTTONWOOD -- The funeral Mass for Gertrude M. Kopczynski will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Cottonwood.

The Rev. Andrew Schumacher will be the celebrant. Burial will follow at the Cottonwood Catholic Cemetery.

The rosary will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the church.

The lifelong Cottonwood resident died Tuesday May 9, 2000 at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston of complications from injuries received in an automobile accident March 6 at Craigmont. She was 80.

She was born Jan. 30, 1920, to James T. and Jessie Runyan Sager at Cottonwood. She attended school there and graduated in 1939 from Cottonwood High School.

For a short time, she worked in the payroll office of the aluminum rolling mill at Spokane before World War II. During the war, she worked at Geiger Field, now Fairchild Air Force Base, as a projectionist showing training films.

She married Jake F. Kopczynski on Aug. 9, 1947, at Boise. They made their home at Cottonwood and she worked as a cashier-clerk at the John Kopczynski Bakery. Later, she worked at the Cottonwood Cash Grocery and the Farmers Store before her retirement.

She was an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Cottonwood and was a member of the church and community choirs. She also was a saxophonist in her husband's big band orchestra. Her other interests included activities with her husband and grandchildren, gardening, knitting, crafts, steelhead fishing and activities with her friends.

Survivors include her husband at their Cottonwood home; three sons, Tim Kopczynski of Lewiston, Tom Kopczynski of Albany, Ore., and Jerry Kopczynski of Grangeville; one daughter, Nicole Hasenoehrl of Redmond, Wash.; one brother, Ray Sager of Cottonwood; one sister, Mayme Toennis of Cottonwood; and eight grandchildren.

Preceding her in death were three sisters, Ruth Richards, Bess Hanley and Alice Chicane; and two brothers, George Sager and Bud Sager.