In Memoriam: Margaret Carroll (Hatton) Kocurek (1942 – 2022)
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Margaret Carroll Kocurek (Hatton) of Bluffton, South Carolina, passed away peacefully on July 30, 2022, surrounded by her family. Margaret was born in Ithaca, New York, on February 7, 1942. Margaret received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 from Utica College and attended the Syracuse University College of Law. In 1967 she received her master’s degree in Student Personnel Administration from Syracuse University and served as head resident on the staff of the Dean of Women. She served as the Assistant Dean of Women at State University College in Cortland.
Margaret met her husband, Dr. Michael Joseph Kocurek, while at Syracuse University, and they married on August 26, 1967. Margaret’s time in Stevens Point was filled with many professional milestones at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Career highlights include serving as a career counselor for college students, including non-traditional students and international students, and tutoring college athletes who later went on to success in the NBA and the NFL. She was also the Director of the Reading and Study Skills Lab and other student service areas. Margaret worked to bring Good Morning America to Stevens Point to showcase Stevens Point’s progressive wellness campaigns. She was civic-minded, serving on many municipal boards, chairing the American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters and the St. Michael’s Hospital Auxiliary and was an active member of Newman University Parish.
As a voracious reader and educator her entire life, instilling the love of reading in her own children was a gift she leaves behind. To honor Margaret’s memory, the family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Ferst Readers (ferstreaders.org). This charity provides one age-appropriate book a month to a child in poverty, such that by age five a child will have their own library of 60 books. On the donation page, please indicate your donation is in memory of Margaret Kocurek and please apply your donation to Screven County, Georgia from the drop-down box on the website.
