KOSTEN, ANNA LUDWIKA

Anna Ludwika Kosten, 89, of Avalon, NJ died peacefully, at home with her family on June 9, 2022 at the age of 89. She was known to her family and friends by her middle name, Ludwika, and she liked to tell the story of how that came about. Growing up in Queens, she was enrolled in kindergarten as Anna, but when her mother was speaking with the teacher on the first day of school, the teacher exclaimed in a harsh Queens accent, “Oh, I’m so glad we are going to have another ‘Aaannie’ in our class”. Horrified by the harshness of that pronunciation, her quick-thinking mother replied “Her name is ‘Ludwika’!”. And so, it was Ludwika the rest of her life.She was born in New York City on November 22, 1932. Ludwika’s father abandoned his young family in the depression when Ludwika was still a toddler, and she never crossed paths with him again. She was raised by her loving and devoted mother Louise (nee Godamska) as well as her doting Aunt Honey and Uncle Nanya in New York City and Riverhead Long Island. Louise married George Holland when Ludwika was a young mother. He was a devoted step father who treated her like the father she never had.In spite of what most people would consider a disadvantaged start, she excelled academically. She was most grateful to one of her middle school teachers who steered her to New York City’s all female exam school Hunter High School. She felt that this was a turning point in her life, leading her to college and then a professional career. She was an extremely proud graduate of Hunter High School and later Hunter College.She met her future husband Richard Kosten in New York City and they married in 1953. She accompanied Richard to Fall River, MA while he was enlisted in the Navy and then later, when he was discharged, to Boston. While in Massachusetts, she was appalled to discover she was considered to be “Goods and Chattel” of her husband under Massachusetts tax law at that time. Ludwika was an intelligent and assertive woman who later identified as a feminist and she often told the story of being insulted by Massachusetts designating her the property of her husband.She and Richard eventually settled in central New Jersey, first Madison Township (now Old Bridge) and then East Brunswick. There they raised their two children David and Jeffrey. When Jeffrey attended kindergarten, Ludwika began her professional career as a teacher in the Madison Township, NJ school system, where she spent her entire career. Although early in her career at the Alan B Sheppard, Jr, Elementary School she taught grades from third to sixth, she eventually landed in first grade where she found her calling in teaching children how to read. It was her entirely believable claim that after decades in teaching the first grade she never had a student leave her classroom without being able to read.Despite being a mother with a career in an era in which that was not common, she managed to attend Rutgers University in New Brunswick after her school day and earned a Masters Degree in Education. She accomplished this while taking the primary role in parenting two raucous teens while her husband worked a demanding job that required him to be away from home many evenings. In her desire to better herself through education, she served as a role model for her two sons who achieved advanced degrees themselves.When her children left home, she and Richard retired and split their time between East Brunswick and Avalon, NJ. She was an avid reader. She claimed that she never got rid of a book she read. She ended up with two houses filled to the brim with books to prove that assertion. She and Richard loved attending classical music concerts at Princeton and the Metropolitan Opera famed Saturday Matinee at Lincoln Center. With years of strategizing, she and Richard claimed to have obtained tickets for the best seats of the house on the main floor of the Metropolitan Opera House. They also had many adventures travelling and made wonderful friends along the way.A few years before she died her life was enriched by the startling development of finding out that her father had sired another family and that instead of being an only child, she had four half siblings. Her half-brother James was the sleuth who combed through government records and family trees to ascertain the connection. Although she never met three of her other half siblings she and Richard came to know and love James and his wife Cheryl.Her husband Richard predeceased her last fall at the age of 91 due to Covid. She is survived by her two sons David Robert Kosten and Jeffrey Thomas Kosten. Her half siblings are James Arney, Kay Wright, Bob Arney and Ken Arney. Her beloved grandchildren are Emily Dell Kosten, Sarah Louise Kosten, Margaret Ellen Kosten and Gregory Flores. She was an enthusiastic and loving great grandmother to Melinda Zipkin, Zoe Zipkin, Avalyn Flores and Helen Goode. Burial was at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Ringoes, NJ. Condolences at www.radzieta.com