Sally Kopita
is honored with a Medium Paver from Ronald & Pearl Kopita
Sally Victor was born in Manchester, England on May 7th, 1907. She was the youngest of eight children. Her parents had fled Russia because of religious persecution of Jews and her father had been drafted in the Russian army which was a life long obligation. The young couple had enough money to cross Europe and settle in England. It was in Manchester that they began to raise a family. By 1912 the Victor family planned to immigrate to the United States where relatives currently resided. However, they did not have quite enough funds to make the journey, so they delayed departure for another year. This was quite fortunate since they would have traveled in the steerage section of the Titanic and the family would probably not have survived. They arrived in America and moved to a Jewish section of Syracuse, New York. Sally attended public schools until the 8th grade. At that time her parents required that she quit school, find a job and begin to help support this large family. Sally begged her parents to allow her to take a 13 week secretarial course and they agreed. This opportunity would have an important impact on Sally throughout her adult life.
In order to secure her first job after successfully completing the secretarial course, Sally lied about her age, claiming she was sixteen. At the actual age of thirteen, Sally began her career as a secretary. In 1926 Sally met Julius Kopita who was a college student at Syracuse University. He was the oldest of three sons and was born in Tupper Lake, New York. Julius worked in a local shoe store to help finance his college education. Sally and Julius dated for four years and were married in 1930. They, then, moved to New York City where Julius pursued a degree in Podiatry at Long Island University and Sally worked to support the financially struggling couple. When Julius completed his degree, they moved to Ogdensburg, New York to begin a life and start a family. They moved to Ogdensburg because Julius's parents, Abraham and Rose lived there and Julius believed he could establish a successful practice. While living in Ogdensburg, Julius and Sally had two children, Elissa, born in 1934 and Harvey, born in 1937. In 1938 the Kopita's moved to Watertown, New York where Julius expanded his practice. After World War II broke out, Julius was drafted, but failed his physical. He learned that he was diabetic. In 1944, they had their third and last child, Ronald. Throughout the war years, Sally supported the war effort by working as a secretary at a local army base, Pine Camp, later renamed Fort Drum.
The Kopitas lived a normal, happy life and both Julius and Sally became active members of both their Temple and the Watertown community. However, at the young age of 48, Julius had a stroke which started a downward spiral in his health. In 1962 at the age of 53, Julius Kopita passed away. Sally continued living in Watertown, working for two large companies, Stebbens and Black Claussen. In 1968, Sally retired and moved to Florida to live with two of her sisters. She continued to work part time for the American Heart Association of Miami Beach and fully retired at the age of 76. Sally's two sisters died and she continued to live in Florida on her own.
Sally's health began to deteriorate in her late 80's and on February 7, 1999, she died at the age of 91. Sally left three grown children, six grand children and four great grand children. Her love and fiercely independent nature will always be missed.
