Obituary of Stephanie Kroup

Stephanie Rose Planch Kroup 99, of Coolidge Road, Amsterdam, passed peacefully Sunday morning at the Eddy Village Green in Cohoes after a brief illness. Stephanie was born in Amsterdam, NY, on December 12, 1910, to Pranci&#353kus and Johanna Marmakeviciute Planciunas. She lost her mother, a medical practitioner, in the influenza pandemic of 1918. After her mother's death, she lived with caring cousins in Starkville, Schenectady and Amsterdam, but was soon reunited with her siblings and widowed father, of whom she held many fond memories for the rest of her long life. Stephanie graduated from the eighth grade at St. Mary's School, attended public school for a short time, then dropped out to help support her family. After waitressing at Planch's Lunch, she worked as a photo technician for Krawczeski Studio, and finally clerked at Kresge's Department Store. Promoted to manager of the hosiery department in Amsterdam, she also traveled for Kresge's, helping to set up hosiery counters in other upstate towns. Despite working long hours, "Tops" always found energy for an evening in the dance halls during the Roaring Twenties and RPI soirees in the 1930s. She loved to dance, and was still winning waltz trophies at field days in Amsterdam in the 1950s. Stephanie married Benjamin A. Kroup in 1936 and moved to Fort Plain and Little Falls to join him there, where he oversaw the dredging of a section of the NYS Barge Canal. During the Second World War, Ben, Stephanie and their son, Ben Jr., lived in Hope and Texarkana, Arkansas, and Waco and McGregor, Texas, where Ben Sr. supervised the construction of airports, ordinance plants and test ranges for the U.S. Army. Though she loved the southwest, Stephanie returned to Amsterdam to live after the war when Ben Sr. was offered the position of City Engineer. For years, she hosted card parties for the "Bridge Gang" and holiday gatherings for family and friends at her spacious home on Coolidge Road, where in later years she delighted in the visits of her three beloved grandchildren. Stephanie managed to live in her own home, with some assistance, until the age of 98, when a broken hip and consequent immobility required skilled nursing care at the Eddy Village Green in Cohoes. Stephanie was proud of her family and her Lithuanian roots, and was happy to share her first-hand knowledge of life throughout the twentieth century in Amsterdam's East End, Rockton and Market Hill. In addition to St. Casimir's Church and Sunday School, she attended St. Mary's Church and Institute in Amsterdam and was married in Holy Cross Church in Schenectady by her good friend Father Orvidas. Stephanie is survived by her only child, Ben A. Kroup, and daughter-in-law, Lucy A. Breyer, of Waterford, NY; three grandchildren: B. Adam Kroup and his wife, Angel, of Waterford, George W. Kroup of Brooklyn Heights and Anna L. Kroup of Waterford; great-grandchildren, Cinna-Marie Kroup, and Naven Fowler; many nieces and nephews, and grand-nieces and grand-nephews, as well as cousins scattered throughout the United States and Europe, especially Lithuania. Stephanie was predeceased by her husband, Benjamin A. Kroup in 1984; older sister, Julia Stryski in 1996; younger brother, Charles Planch in 1981 and most of her generation of family and friends. All these, and many more loved ones, remained alive in her remarkable memory to the end of her long life. Sincere thanks to Stephanie's devoted nieces, helpful neighbors and home care aids Norma Wells and Margaret Persico, who made it possible for her to live in her own home as long as she wished, and to the staff of Residence 24 of the Eddy Village Green in Cohoes, who provided Stephanie a comfortable new home for the last year of her life. Services are Wednesday at 10:00 am at the Betz, Rossi & Bellinger Family Funeral Home, 171 Guy Park Avenue. Fr. Brian List officiating. Interment will follow in St. Casimir's Cemetery. Calling hours are today from 3-6 pm at the funeral home. Contributions may be made in her name to St. Casimir's Cemetery, in care of the funeral home office.