Carole Ann Cooper
Carole Ann Durnak Cooper, 47, died May 24 at St. Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston.
She was born in Elizabeth and lived in Linden for many years. She later lived in Edison for 10 years and then in Plainsboro for three years before moving to Kendall Park six months ago.
A state veterans benefits coordinator for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Lawrenceville, for 17 years, she was named Employee of the Year in 1998.
She was a communmicant of St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Elizabeth.
She was a service officer for both the Air Force Association and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 12 in Allenhurst, the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, both in New Jersey, and a member of the New Jersey Association of Veterans Service Officers.
Her father, George Durnak, died in 1993.
She is survived by her husband, Gary Cooper; her mother, Ella Grabinsky Durnak of Linden; a brother, Raymond G. Durnak of North Brunswick and two newphews, Lee and Timothy Durnak.
Funeral services were from the Kowalski Funeral Home, 515 Roselle St., Linden. A mass followed at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian R.C. Church, Elizabeth. Cremation took place in Rosehille Crematory, Linden. Parastas services were held May 26.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, 28 Kennedy Blvd., Suite 180, East Brunswick, N.J. 08816 or by calling the foundation at (732) 296-7171.