Louise Kostka

Louise Anna Chiba Kostka, 89, of Chesapeake, passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at Hospice Home at High Point, High Point, North Carolina. She was born in Queens, New York City, New York, a first-generation American daughter of proud Slovak immigrants and was raised in New York City, where she graduated from high school and business college, worked at the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, and later as a young adult moved with her family to Masaryktown, Florida, near Tampa. On December 26, 1943, she married Second Lieutenant Rudolph Kostka, Jr., United States Army Air Corps, who was finishing his training just prior to his assignment to Eighth Air Force, England, where he flew 33 combat missions over Germany as a B-17G aircraft commander from April to September 1944. The family story is that Mrs. Kostka was somewhat reluctant to marry at that time, knowing her fiancé would soon ship off to some of the most demanding and deadly combat action of World War II, but Lieutenant Kostka convinced his future wife with the simple demand that "it's now or never." After Lieutenant Kostka returned from his wartime service, he and Mrs. Kostka began a family as she accompanied her husband to Gainesville, Florida, where her husband completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Florida under the GI Bill, and then to a succession of domestic and foreign assignments during the course of her husband's Air Force career, culminating in his retirement from the military in 1967 out of Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. After their service in the military, Mrs. Kostka and her family remained in the Tidewater area, relocating to Chesapeake where her husband began a second career working for the City of Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. They retired a second time in 1988, remaining in Chesapeake . Mrs. Kostka was predeceased by her husband of 68 years, Lieutenant Colonel Rudolph Kostka, Jr., United States Air Force Ret., who passed away this past January 6, 2012. Mrs. Kostka is survived by her son Donn Kostka of Chesapeake, her daughter Janice Kostka Edwards of Chesapeake, her daughter Chana Kostka Ball of Greensboro, North Carolina, and her grandchildren Katherine Marie Ball and John Russell Ball of Greensboro. Mrs. Kostka was the daughter of the late John Chiba and Mary Chiba of Masaryktown, Florida , and the sister of the late Milan Chiba, of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The family gathered at Loving Funeral Home, 3225 Academy Avenue, Portsmouth on Friday evening June 1st, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for a visitation. A memorial Mass was celebrated at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, 518 High Street, Portsmouth on Saturday, June 2nd, at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be Saturday, August 4, at 1:00 p.m., in Masaryktown Cemetery, Masaryktown, Florida. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her name to the Portsmouth Humane Society, 4022 Seaboard Court, Portsmouth, VA 23701 or Hospice Home at High Point, 1803 Westchester Drive, High Point, NC 27262.