Sandra Lee Kopta

Ms. Kopta, daughter of Darrell and Clara (Johansen) Burger, was born on July 31, 1944, in Harlan, Iowa. Her varied career included 20 years of service at the Internal Revenue Service, from which she retired in 2009. After two years, she decided that retirement did not suit her, so she began a new career with a Lockheed Martin team supporting her former office at the IRS, where she worked until her death.

She married Edward Martin Kopta on July 20, 1968. Sandra and Edward had three daughters; their marriage ended in divorce.

She discovered a passion for travel while on assignment with the IRS in Puerto Rico, and spent the second half of her life traveling throughout North and South America and Europe.

She is survived by her daughters, Aimee Kopta, of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Elizabeth Kopta and her husband Henry Schaefer of Frederick, Maryland; and Kerry DeSomma and her husband Vincent of Bethesda, Maryland; her stepmother Marcia Burger of Cassville, Missouri; her brother Tom Burger of Los Angeles, California, and her sisters, Patrica Nordby of Salida, Colorado, and Judy Will, of Malvern, Iowa; many nieces and nephews; and four grandchildren, Henry Schaefer, Alessandra DeSomma, Victoria DeSomma, and Vincent DeSomma. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Ron Burger.

A memorial service will be held at St. Pius X in Bowie, Maryland, on Saturday, July 9, 2016, at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions in her name be made to the Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/our_center/charitable_giving