Ann Marie Zrabkowski

Ann Marie Zrabkowski (nee Lucas) was born May 31, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York to the union of Frank Lucas and Elizabeth Louise Lucas (nee Zawrotniak). She was baptized into the parish of St. Stanislaus Church and raised in the Polish community of Greenpoint in Brooklyn. At the age of 16, after finishing a two-year education in a business school, she went to work full time. In 1955 she married Edmund Thomas Zrabkowski. Together they had four children: Linda, Robert, Catherine and Christine. In 1959 they moved to Old Bridge, New Jersey. Ed worked in the elevator industry as a sales engineer while Ann kept house and raised the children, working part-time in retail to supplement the family income. Both were avid bowlers involved in leagues that were popular at that time. In summers the family vacationed on the New Jersey shore. They also took frequent road trips to see family members or visit historical sites throughout the Northeast. In 1973 Ed took a job in New Haven, Connecticut and they relocated to Cheshire, Connecticut. They moved again two years later to New Orleans, living in the New Aurora area of Algiers. As their children moved into college years and started careers, Ann and Ed began to travel more. Among other destinations they toured London and took the Pacific Coast Highway down the California coastline. In 1989, along with a small group of Polish Americans from Louisiana, they traveled to Rome and had an audience with Pope John Paul II. Then, just months before the first semi-free elections since before WWII, they traveled to Poland, meeting relatives and touring the country. During this period Ann’s career in banking also began. Starting as a teller, she worked her way up to become a bank officer with First NBC. This was a remarkable achievement for a woman who had no college education and had not even earned a four-year high school diploma. A few years after her husband’s untimely death in 1991, she took early retirement. Soon she was hired back to run the First NBC cash vault in downtown New Orleans. She remained there until 2005, when she fully retired in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She then moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas to be near her daughter and son-in-law Cathy and Jack Cassingham. There she divided her time between her hobbies of gardening, needlework and baking as well as doing volunteer work with the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary, Regional Art Museum, and Fort Smith Little Theater. In 2018 Ann decided it was time to move back to New Orleans. In January 2019 she moved into the Suites at Algiers Point. There, after a long battle with heart disease and senile dementia, she left this world for a better one on March 27, 2025. She was pre-deceased by her mother Louise Lucas, her husband Edmund Zrabkowski, and her daughter Linda Kotalik. She leaves to mourn her daughters Cathy Cassingham and Christine Stanley; son Robert Zrabkowski; sons-in-law John Kotalik, Jack Cassingham and Christopher Stanley; daughter-in-law Melissa Zrabkowski; grandchildren Amanda Cassingham Bardwell (husband Michael), Andrew Kotalik, Kellie Kotalik, Lydia Cassingham, Thomas Zrabkowski (wife Anjelica Moran), Emily Kubik (husband David), Hannah Puckett (husband Kyle) , Margaret Zrabkowski Frischherz (husband Cole), Joseph Stanley and Adeline Stanley; great-grandchildren Jayden and Isaiah Hernandez, Jackson and Luna Puckett. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Funeral Mass on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church, 400 Verret St, New Orleans, LA 70114 at 11am.  Visitation will be held at the church from 10am until 11am. Interment, Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Gretna, LA. Family and friends may view and sign the online guest book at www.mothefunerals.com. Arrangements entrusted to Mothe Funeral Home.