Anthony Richard Kopec
July 20, 1937 - January 19, 2023
Anthony “Tony” Richard Kopec went home to be with his Lord at the age of 85 on Thursday, January 19, 2023. He was a devoted husband and loving father. Next to God, his family was the most important thing in life to him.
Tony was born on July 20, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois, to Antoni and Benigna (Rolewicz) Kopec. He grew up in a Polish community on the south side of Chicago where he graduated from St. Bronislava Primary School and Bowen High School. He had an older half-brother, Harry, and an older half-sister, Balbina, and one younger sister, Katherine. He married his first wife Carolyn in 1960 and together they had four children: Cheryl, Michael, David and Julianne. Tony worked in computers during this time at various companies in downtown Chicago. In 1972 that marriage ended in divorce, and eventually Tony moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he worked for the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in Omaha, Nebraska. He met his wife, Barbara, during this time, and they were married in April of 1978. In 1979 they moved to the Tacoma area to be near his four children who were living in Bonney Lake, Washington, at the time. He and Barbara moved to Eatonville in 1986. He continued to work as a map draftsman for the engineering department of AT&T until 1988. He then started his own window washing and painting business in the Eatonville area, and also read water and electric meters for the Town of Eatonville for a number of years. He retired from his business in 1999 when he and Barbara traveled to Romania to work in an orphanage for six months.
He is survived by his wife Barbara (Opitz) Kopec of Eatonville, daughter Cheryl Kopec of Tacoma, son Michael (Donna) Kopec of Puyallup, son David Kopec of Elbe, and daughter Julianne (Donnie) Landsman of Mesa, Arizona; granddaughters Chelsey (Aaron) Springer and Chelsey’s sister Tara and family, Chrystyanna Van Dyke, Katrynna Landsman, and Kyrstynn Landsman. He was preceded in death by his parents, half-brother Harry, half-sister Balbina, and sister Katherine.
A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. at the Eatonville Baptist Church in Eatonville, Washington. In lieu of flowers, the family requests any donations in his memory be directed to Homespun Ministries, Eatonville, WA.