Eternal Memory: + Dolores Zuder
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
JOHNSTOWN, PA - [Diocesan Chancery] -- With profound sadness the Diocesan Chancery announces that Pani Dolores Zuder reposed in the Lord on January 13, 2025.
Born on September 14, 1938, in Johnstown PA, she was the fourth of eight living children to be brought into the world by Sotero and Helen (Machik) Rocha, and she spent the next 86 years finding and making her way in it.
From her youth, she knew she was destined to be and do more, and she lived with that expectation, learning and doing as much as she could to lead a rich and fulfilling life.
Immediately upon her graduation from Johnstown High School in 1957, she worked at Quality Lumber Co. as head bookkeeper until she met Seminarian Myron Zuder. By 1962, they were married in Christ the Saviour Cathedral, by the late (then Father) Metropolitan Nicholas.
Once married, the couple spent a brief time at a parish in Newark, NJ until eventually being transferred to Lansford, PA, where Father Myron served as pastor. In Lansford, Dolores gave birth to Gregory, then David. To help support the family, she worked many odd jobs (she'd tell you as many as six at a time), sewing and baking for others as well as taking on whatever additional work was offered.
She was an industrious lady, bent on improving her station, and she just refused to sit still. When the couple accepted the pastorate that they had been offered in Akron, OH, Dolores was finally able to honor her talents and passions.
She found her way working as a representative and make-up artist for Make-Up Center Ltd. of New York, selling their On-Stage line of cosmetics. Sometime after that, she became a successful entrepreneur. Having already been an accomplished fashion model, for ten years she owned and operated the Bon Chic Modeling Agency and Beauty Salon in Merriman Valley (Akron) and fought hard for the agency to become a franchise of the famous John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center of New York.
She was invited to teach continuing education classes in Beauty Arts at the University of Akron, and for 15 years she offered lessons in makeup, wardrobe, and social graces. She conducted seminars covering these same subjects at Goodyear Tire, Centron Bank, the former St. Thomas Hospital, and to various other groups of professional women who were eager to learn from her. She was even given an offer from Prentice-Hall to author a book for women on beauty and health. As there was no limit to what she could do, she also taught aerobics for the local YWCA.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this, she gave birth to her third child, Gary, and continued to do, teach and learn while raising all three boys, with the help of Father Myron, of course.
Later in life, she moved to the insurance sector, and worked for Prudential, New York Life, and Humana as a Sales Representative. She earned numerous awards, including with Humana as Ohio's top producer.
Throughout her life, when she wasn't out in the world making her place and name known, you could find her in her kitchen cooking and baking for her family and friends. Her baking was well-known by those she surrounded herself with, and everyone relished her famous "Poplanok" (cheese bread), with which she earned a published recipe in Gourmet Magazine.
Benefitting from her experiences and knowledge were her four granddaughters, Katarina, Alexandra, Juliana and Katherine. After three sons, Dolores was overjoyed to now be able to share all of her wisdom and skills with girls! The first two arrived in 1998 and 2000, and she loved and mentored them as a second mother as much as a grandmother. The second two followed in 2010 and 2014, and for them she was a doting grandmother, attending many of their school and dance events. She referred to each of her granddaughters as her "flowers," and they lovingly called her "Baba". Her guidance helped the girls excel in different ways, whether it be in the kitchen, school, the church, or the many other areas of her expertise. Each one of them now carries her legacy in their lives through the love she showered on them.
Dolores traveled extensively with her husband Father Myron, taking numerous bus tours, cruises and plane rides, journeying as far as Alaska in the US and abroad to France, Italy, Sicily, Turkey, and to the Holy Land. In Rome, she was fortunate to be able to sing in St. Peter's Cathedral with a Byzantine Catholic choir, before the chains of St. Peter, and in Russia, she sang many times with the local street musicians. Having read the Holy Bible numerous times from cover to cover, she also loved to sing a song that named all the books in order.
She was always eager to share in the joy that music brought her as an amateur piano player and a gorgeous vocalist, with origins in the Cathedral church choir growing up in Johnstown, PA. This love of music led her to spend many years as a soprano in the Akron Symphony Chorus through which she was blessed to be able to perform at the world-renowned Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH.
Dolores is preceded in death by her parents Sotero and Helen, sister Mary, brothers Joe and Bob and two infant siblings. She is survived by her husband Father Myron, sons Greg (Lisa), David (Jessica) and Gary (Kelley), granddaughters Katarina, Alexandra, Juliana and Katherine, sisters Helen, Jenny, Eleanor, brother Bill, and her dear best friends Luba and Ellen. Please understand if your name has been omitted, it was not intentional. We know that Dolores touched many lives with her talents, grace, charm, personality, and love.
Dolores's family offers their sincere gratitude to the wonderful and caring doctors, nurses, and staff at the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Justin T. Rogers Hospice Care Center in Fairlawn, OH and the caring priests who visited her before her repose.
Services will be held on Saturday, January 18 at St. George Antiochian Church, 3204 Ridgewood Rd, Fairlawn OH with visitation from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM followed by a funeral service at 11:00 AM. A luncheon will follow immediately afterwards. Interment will take place at the Monastery Marcha Serbian Orthodox Cemetery, 5095 Broadview Rd., Richfield, OH following the luncheon for those who wish to attend.
In lieu of flowers, please send remembrances either to Christ the Saviour Seminary, Johnstown, PA, St. George Orthodox Church, Fairlawn, or Monastery Marcha Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Richfield, OH.
Born on September 14, 1938, in Johnstown PA, she was the fourth of eight living children to be brought into the world by Sotero and Helen (Machik) Rocha, and she spent the next 86 years finding and making her way in it.
From her youth, she knew she was destined to be and do more, and she lived with that expectation, learning and doing as much as she could to lead a rich and fulfilling life.
Immediately upon her graduation from Johnstown High School in 1957, she worked at Quality Lumber Co. as head bookkeeper until she met Seminarian Myron Zuder. By 1962, they were married in Christ the Saviour Cathedral, by the late (then Father) Metropolitan Nicholas.
Once married, the couple spent a brief time at a parish in Newark, NJ until eventually being transferred to Lansford, PA, where Father Myron served as pastor. In Lansford, Dolores gave birth to Gregory, then David. To help support the family, she worked many odd jobs (she'd tell you as many as six at a time), sewing and baking for others as well as taking on whatever additional work was offered.
She was an industrious lady, bent on improving her station, and she just refused to sit still. When the couple accepted the pastorate that they had been offered in Akron, OH, Dolores was finally able to honor her talents and passions.
She found her way working as a representative and make-up artist for Make-Up Center Ltd. of New York, selling their On-Stage line of cosmetics. Sometime after that, she became a successful entrepreneur. Having already been an accomplished fashion model, for ten years she owned and operated the Bon Chic Modeling Agency and Beauty Salon in Merriman Valley (Akron) and fought hard for the agency to become a franchise of the famous John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center of New York.
She was invited to teach continuing education classes in Beauty Arts at the University of Akron, and for 15 years she offered lessons in makeup, wardrobe, and social graces. She conducted seminars covering these same subjects at Goodyear Tire, Centron Bank, the former St. Thomas Hospital, and to various other groups of professional women who were eager to learn from her. She was even given an offer from Prentice-Hall to author a book for women on beauty and health. As there was no limit to what she could do, she also taught aerobics for the local YWCA.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this, she gave birth to her third child, Gary, and continued to do, teach and learn while raising all three boys, with the help of Father Myron, of course.
Later in life, she moved to the insurance sector, and worked for Prudential, New York Life, and Humana as a Sales Representative. She earned numerous awards, including with Humana as Ohio's top producer.
Throughout her life, when she wasn't out in the world making her place and name known, you could find her in her kitchen cooking and baking for her family and friends. Her baking was well-known by those she surrounded herself with, and everyone relished her famous "Poplanok" (cheese bread), with which she earned a published recipe in Gourmet Magazine.
Benefitting from her experiences and knowledge were her four granddaughters, Katarina, Alexandra, Juliana and Katherine. After three sons, Dolores was overjoyed to now be able to share all of her wisdom and skills with girls! The first two arrived in 1998 and 2000, and she loved and mentored them as a second mother as much as a grandmother. The second two followed in 2010 and 2014, and for them she was a doting grandmother, attending many of their school and dance events. She referred to each of her granddaughters as her "flowers," and they lovingly called her "Baba". Her guidance helped the girls excel in different ways, whether it be in the kitchen, school, the church, or the many other areas of her expertise. Each one of them now carries her legacy in their lives through the love she showered on them.
Dolores traveled extensively with her husband Father Myron, taking numerous bus tours, cruises and plane rides, journeying as far as Alaska in the US and abroad to France, Italy, Sicily, Turkey, and to the Holy Land. In Rome, she was fortunate to be able to sing in St. Peter's Cathedral with a Byzantine Catholic choir, before the chains of St. Peter, and in Russia, she sang many times with the local street musicians. Having read the Holy Bible numerous times from cover to cover, she also loved to sing a song that named all the books in order.
She was always eager to share in the joy that music brought her as an amateur piano player and a gorgeous vocalist, with origins in the Cathedral church choir growing up in Johnstown, PA. This love of music led her to spend many years as a soprano in the Akron Symphony Chorus through which she was blessed to be able to perform at the world-renowned Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH.
Dolores is preceded in death by her parents Sotero and Helen, sister Mary, brothers Joe and Bob and two infant siblings. She is survived by her husband Father Myron, sons Greg (Lisa), David (Jessica) and Gary (Kelley), granddaughters Katarina, Alexandra, Juliana and Katherine, sisters Helen, Jenny, Eleanor, brother Bill, and her dear best friends Luba and Ellen. Please understand if your name has been omitted, it was not intentional. We know that Dolores touched many lives with her talents, grace, charm, personality, and love.
Dolores's family offers their sincere gratitude to the wonderful and caring doctors, nurses, and staff at the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Justin T. Rogers Hospice Care Center in Fairlawn, OH and the caring priests who visited her before her repose.
Services will be held on Saturday, January 18 at St. George Antiochian Church, 3204 Ridgewood Rd, Fairlawn OH with visitation from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM followed by a funeral service at 11:00 AM. A luncheon will follow immediately afterwards. Interment will take place at the Monastery Marcha Serbian Orthodox Cemetery, 5095 Broadview Rd., Richfield, OH following the luncheon for those who wish to attend.
In lieu of flowers, please send remembrances either to Christ the Saviour Seminary, Johnstown, PA, St. George Orthodox Church, Fairlawn, or Monastery Marcha Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Richfield, OH.
The faithful are kindly asked to remember in prayer the newly departed Pani Dolores, and Fr. Myron and their whole family.
"In Blessed Repose, grant eternal rest, O Lord, to your newly-departed handmaid Pani Dolores and render eternal her memory, vicnaja jej pamjat!"
"In Blessed Repose, grant eternal rest, O Lord, to your newly-departed handmaid Pani Dolores and render eternal her memory, vicnaja jej pamjat!"