Joseph and Mary Simko never had any children of their own. But thanks to the Cementon couple’s generosity and strong Catholic faith, generations of children are getting the benefit of a Catholic education through the Joseph and Mary Simko Education Fund.
“The church was the center of their lives; it really was,” recalled Mary Simko’s niece, Deborah A. Coles of Tamaqua. “Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary were very involved with Holy Trinity; very active in the church.”
Coles, who served as the executor of the Simkos’ estate, created the fund in 1990 to pay tribute to her beloved aunt and uncle after they died in the late 1980s.
The Living, Loving Legacy of Joseph and Mary Simko
“Joe died first, in 1988, and Mary died afterward, in 1989,” she said. “There were three beneficiaries; one of them being Holy Trinity Church.”
The Simkos did not leave much in the way of direction for their gift, she said — just a request that they are regularly remembered with a Mass.
“I thought a tuition assistance fund would be the right way to honor them,” Coles said. “That way I felt it always kept their name, their influence, right there in the parish that was so important to them.”
Initially, she said, the idea was to always ensure at least one student from Holy Trinity could attend Allentown Central Catholic High School. But in the years since the fund was created, it has grown enough so that it can provide scholarships for multiple students just through interest alone.
Faith and Family Matter Most
In addition to their faith, the Simkos treasured family, Coles said. For her Aunt Mary, those were bonds strengthened by tragedy at a young age.
“My father only had three siblings, including my Aunt Mary, who was the oldest,” she said. “Their father — my grandfather John Krynack — died in an accident when my dad was about 16, so they were a very close-knit family.” The Krynacks, she said, lived in Egypt, Pa., and attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
Joseph Simko was from Northampton and regularly attended a Catholic church there before he and Mary wed and settled in Cementon.
“He owned the Laurel Garage … and at that time, he also sold this new contraption called a TV set,” she said with a laugh. “He did very well, and he was also very astute at stocks and bonds.”
Not one to sit still, Coles said, he was also a volunteer firefighter. Mary worked as a sewing machine operator at the Clyde Shirt Company. And when they weren’t working or helping with the church, they were spending time with family.
“I was 11 when Aunt Mary died, but I do remember the church was so important to Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe,” said Coles’ daughter Gretchen Sterns, a lawyer in Pottsville, Pa.
“I remember when they both came for my first Holy Communion; they were up there in age at the time but still drove up to Tamaqua,” Sterns recalled.
“I just remember them making a big deal out of it; it was very important to them to see the faith carried on through their family members,” she said.
The Joseph and Mary Simko Education Fund Today
Sterns said the family hadn’t thought about the fund in decades, but then saw it mentioned in a Catholic Foundation publication.
“It was so moving to me, after all those years, to see that their intentions are continuing to be carried out and that they are being recognized for what they’ve done for their parish and their faith,” Sterns said.
Sterns and her husband give to the fund every year and appreciate the stewardship of the Catholic Foundation to help take her great aunt and uncle’s legacy forward.
“I feel that the fund is a wonderful way to honor their legacy and their commitment to the Catholic faith, Holy Trinity, and to Catholic education,” Sterns said. “And their commitment to those things is not just seen through the fund, but also through the fact that generations of their family have had a Catholic education. My mother [Deborah Coles] was a teacher at Marion Catholic in Tamaqua for more than 30 years, and now my husband is a teacher at Marion, too,” she said. “These are the results of seeds planted by people like Joe and Mary, who set a good example of the importance of the church and the faith and Catholic education,” Sterns said. “It’s so meaningful to be able to see that continue through the fund. They would be so happy.”