The artist:

Lois Marilyn Ostapczuk

Feb. 10^th, 1948 – March 2^nd, 2023

Lois was born in Newark, New Jersey to Robert and Doris Koch, the fifth of six children.  She grew up in Union with her three brothers and two sisters.  Lois went on to graduate from Union High School in 1966 afterwards earning a 1970 BA in General Elementary Education at Kean University.  Later in life she earned her MS in Elementary Education at SUNY New Paltz.

Lois married her husband, Ed, in May of 1970 after which they relocated to the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state.  While he initially worked at IBM, Lois taught second grade in the Marlboro School District.  In 1973 they relocated to Shokan, residing there since, where Lois soon gave birth to the first of four children, putting her teaching career on hold while raising the family.

 As their children grew through their teen years Lois re-entered the teaching profession, directing and teaching the Overlook Preschool for a short period plus substitute teaching before joining the Onteora School District as a first-grade teacher.  In 2008 she retired from teaching rekindling friendships while becoming an active community volunteer and cultivating various hobbies.  She enjoyed quilting, hiking, volunteerism, and landscape painting.  Her artwork was often donated to various community fundraising events. 

While teaching Lois received the NYS Jenkins Award becoming an honorary life-time PTA member and was also nominated to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.  As a volunteer, in her younger years she was active in local PTA’s and with the Town of Olive’s Recreation Committee, for which she was also recognized.  In later years she was active with Vision 2000 and volunteered/coordinated the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen at Christ’s Lutheran Church, where she also served on the Church Council and taught Sunday school.

Other than her family, friends, and helping others, Lois life’s passion was landscape painting.  She was an active member of the Olive Senior Art Group.  While Lois was mostly self-taught, she also received help from group members, as well as enjoyed several classes with local artists.  Much of her art is shown within the blog below.

Lois was survived by her husband of fifty-three years and all four of their children including ten grandchildren.  She was also survived by her three brothers and two sisters/their families as well as two sisters-in-law’s/their families including seventeen nieces and nephews, and several great nieces and nephews in all.

In November of 2021 Lois was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer.  Though the odds were stacked against her from the beginning, she fought with all her efforts and grace.  Her cheerful and kind presence will be greatly missed, while all who knew Lois are grateful for our time with her.  The family is forever beholden to the caring and dedicated personnel at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Hudson Valley Hospice.  

My bride:

The last Christmas card (2023):  In late 2022 just a few short weeks before Lois entered Hospice care, she was still actively painting watercolors.  Doing so gave her great purpose and joy.  One day she completed a winter scene, reflective of the season we were in.  Lois showed this to our oldest daughter Jennifer, who quickly suggested that her mother add a Christmas wreath to the barn.  Delighted with that suggestion, Lois joyfully did so, proclaiming that this watercolor image would make our 2023 Christmas card.  

And so it happened; friends and family received Lois’s Merry Christmas.  As for the original watercolor itself, Jennifer claimed it as her own and it now hangs in her Ballston Spa, New York home.

Merry Christmas from Heaven, Lois.

The last Christmas card: 

Flugertown:  We relocated to New York shortly after we married in 1970.  My husband used the excuse of new careers for both of us, which was true, but we did leave job opportunities back in New Jersey.  Actually, it was a Charmed Circle article in some outdoor magazine that drew us to the Catskills. 

Ed is the angler in our relationship and he is forever roaming new waters.  He tells me that his “first Catskill love” was the Willowemoc; little did I know.  So when he asked me to paint a primitive scene found in the Willowemoc Wild Forest, hidden along Flugertown Road, I wasn’t totally surprised.

This task was a bit of a challenge, as my hands have become increasing unsteady as I battle my illness;  but perhaps that enhanced the looseness of this watercolor.

This watercolor appeared in the March 2023 issue of the Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Lois completed this watercolor on February 3rd, 2023, later that evening she entered Kingston Hospital for her illness.  Two days later she was discharged into home Hospice care.  She passed peacefully at home on March 2nd; this was the last watercolor she ever painted.

Flugertown (NFS):

Cancer:  In November of 2021 Lois was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer.  With caring medical support from Memorial Sloan Kettering physicians, nurses, and great staff, she battled this disease for almost one-and-a-half years before succumbing to a predetermined outcome.   If only the world was full of  people like MSK employees, our planet would be a much better place to live.

Throughout Lois ordeal and treatments, she found great pleasure in family, friends, and painting.  She especially watched numerous landscape painting YouTubes instructing one how to become a better artist.  These occupied her mind while improving her brush strokes.  She continued to paint even up until the very day she entered the hospital only to return home as a Hospice patient.  That morning she finished the "Flugertown" watercolor I had requested.

Towards the end of her life Lois wasn't always capable of signing her work with a full signature and sometimes she would only use her initials "LO".  But she never gave up; she always thought of others, putting them ahead of herself; that's the person she always was.

Words below reflect both those of Lois and her husband.

Oakwood Drive:  Somewhere in Mohonk Preserve, not far from Duck Pond, there’s a large rock we’d sit upon to rest before continuing our trek.  These trees along Oakwood Drive, in their autumn splendor, caught my fancy so I had to paint this watercolor.

 

Along the Rail Trail:  New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir along the Rail Tail, not far from the Boiceville terminus. 

The tailout:  A tailout is the downstream end of a run or pool where water depth shallows while flow speeds increase before dropping into the next stretch.  This one is located at the bottom of Esopus Creek’s Trestle Pool well within eyesight of the Ashokan Rail Trail footbridge, where a railroad trestle once stood.

 

Stone House:  The Stone House serves as the clubhouse for the Wintoon Fly Fishing Club.  I asked Lois to paint this watercolor to serve as a possible book cover dealing with the history of these historic Catskill trout waters.

The Rise:  Based upon one of his photographs, my husband challenged me to paint a watercolor of a rising trout.  His photo depicted the head of a brook trout, with his fly rod on the far bank behind it while sunlight distorted the color of the fish and water holding it.  A challenge it was.

Using artistic license, the fly rod was eliminated from the painting while Ed tried to describe how the trout should appear.  However, left to my own imagination for the most part I proceeded to fabricate colors depicting the water and landscape design.  Following two attempts at this watercolor, readers now see the final result.  This watercolor appeared in the May 2022 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Between September of 2020 through March of 2023, the month Lois passed away, the Guild's Gazette newsletter included fifteen of her watercolors.  Only in January of 2022, after Lois started her first treatment of chemotherapy was she unable to supply a piece of artwork for publication.  However, in January of 2024 ten months after Lois had passed, the Gazette included one final landscape, one of her last and one of her best--- "The last Christmas card."

The unfinished:  The pronoun "me" was not part of Lois' vocabulary.  Pronouns like "you" and "we" were when it came to discussions with each other.  Very often Lois asked me to provide feedback on her artwork, critique it from a non-artist's point of view.  Almost always I sought her feedback on things I wrote, valuing her critical eye.  We just supported each other, caused that's what we did.

There's a favorite section of the East Branch Neversink, on Frost Valley YMCA property, immediately upstream of the New Road Hill Bridge.  I fish it often, it holds special meaning to me.  Thus I asked Lois to paint a watercolor of that section for me.  She did, but we could never quite agree upon her final efforts.  Thus it's called "The Unfinished", hoping when we meet again we can finally agree upon this landscape.

The Unfinished:

 

Esopus Creek Silver Bullet:  My husband, Ed, prides himself on the underwater photographs he frequently takes of trout that he’s caught. Frequently, I’ve utilized these photos for paintings, as they make interesting subject matter. I know enough about trout to distinguish a brook from a brown from a rainbow. And I know that Ed often affectionately refers to wild Esopus Creek rainbows as “silver bullets,” but I didn’t fully understand his lack of underwater photographs of these fish. The vast majority of his underwater photos are of brook and brown trout, and I’ve now learned that wild rainbows won’t remain still long enough for him to capture a digital image. Well, he finally convinced me to do a watercolor of a large Esopus rainbow lying in the gravel next to a prized bamboo rod, just before the fish’s release. To complete this task, I purchased silver watercolor paint—a new color for me to try. Shadows add to the composition of the painting. I submitted the Esopus Creek Silver Bullet to a local juried art show titled “Fresh Air,” and it was accepted.  It also appeared on the July 2022 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Esopus Creek Silver Bullet (NFC):