Katherine Zawadsky Plaskowitz

Katherine Zawadsky Plaskowitz was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 6 July 1927. She was the daughter of Frederick Zawadsky and Natalya Demitiyuk. She grew up with her sister Olga, and brother Alec on Wilshire Avenue in the big stone house that her father built. She fondly remembered the family garden and cherry tree. She liked to relate how her mother made yogurt on the back steps.

Katherine liked to be called “Kay”. She graduated from Eastern High School in 1944. She was very athletic and was proud to be on the varsity field hockey and volleyball teams. Years later, after all her five children were born, she would wake up at 6:00 am (before the children were awake) and go for a two mile walk with her neighbor Lu Roberts. When she was 98, she would put in 9 minutes a day on the exercise bike.

Since Kay was a teenager, she was completely devoted to her church community at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. She participated in teen socials, shore outings, choir, and holiday theatricals. She was introduced to her husband, Jack Plaskowitz, at church by her future mother-in-law, Vera Plaskowitz. It was a love affair that lasted 66 years. Both Kay and Jack devoted their lives to keeping Holy Trinity a vibrant religious community. Perhaps one of their most beloved contributions was the development of the Bread Table during the annual fundraising festival at Holy Trinity. Kay and Jack developed the recipes for sweet raisin breads, poppy seed rolls, nut rolls, chocolate babkas, and old fashioned Eastern European sour dough rye breads. They sized up family recipes into large productions for the festival. They taught the younger generation how to make these breads so that the tradition continues. Their enthusiasm inspired a lot of goodwill and strong friendships among the bread making team and the other Festival teams.

Kay’s first job was with Hutzlers as a secretary. She had studied shorthand in high school and knew it well. In the 70’s, she used those skills in the Land Management division of the Columbia Association. In the 40 years that she worked for CA, her position evolved from Executive Secretary to Executive Administrator. Kay was the go-to person for so many things. From tasks like keeping notes of executive meetings, organizing the land crews, doing administration tasks for the pools, day camp, architectural committees, and the snow removal crew. Kay would not drive in the snow. On her first snow day, a snowplow drove up to her house and took Kay to the office where she spent a very long day on the CB radio directing the snow removal crews. After that, on snow days, a jeep would take her to work. Did you see the white deer in Columbia? Then you would have called Kay to report it. By the time she retired, she was 84 years old. She was a legacy resource for the organization. She knew all the history and ins-and-outs of Land Management because she was there at the very beginning.

Kay did a lot of needlework and knitting. She knitted Jack a pair of Argyle socks, and she knitted her children sweaters and mittens. She completed a large cutwork embroidered tablecloth with napkins. She loved going to antique shops. She collected Eastern European cross stitched blouses, tunics, and rushniks. But probably her greatest love was putting on a fine party. She relished keeping a journal of her parties. She would record the menu, the recipes, the guests, and how the party turned out. At family holidays, she would invite complete strangers to attend, such as dancers from the American Ballet Theater, balalaika orchestra musicians, or journalists. One just never knew who you would meet at her parties.

Her party journals evolved into a published cookbook called Kay’s Recipes. Over the years she tested many recipes for Pascha bread, verenyki, Cyrnaya Pascha, and borsht. The family gave her feedback. We had to eat it all.

She traveled to Russia under the care of the Russian Orthodox Church. She went in 1987, 1990, and 1991. Naturally, she brought home a lot of folk art. Her home in Columbia was her refuge. It also became a sort of time capsule for pre-communist culture. Her parents immigrated from Belarus to the United States around 1905. She passed on the traditions of what her family knew.

Survivors include four children and their spouses and children: James and Judy Plaskowitz of Woodstock, Maryland, and their daughter Jennifer; Deborah and Albert Blaszak of Ellicott City, Maryland and their children Sarah, Natalie, and Stacey. Sarah Blaszak of Columbia, Maryland is married to Jena Brinjak. They have a daughter Alexandra; Kimberly and Philip Plaskowitz of Columbia, Maryland; Susan and Subhash Kuvelker of Columbia, Maryland and their children Jyoti and Jay. Jyoti Kuvelker of Manila Philippines is married to Marc Pickering and their daughter is Anjali. Jay Kuvelker of San Francisco California is married to Melissa Zucker.

Visitation will be held at Witzke Funeral Homes Inc., 5555 Twin Knolls Road, Columbia, MD 21045, US, on May 1, 2026, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and again on May 1, 2026, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

A Funeral Service will take place at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, 1723 E Fairmount Ave, Baltimore, MD 21231, US, on May 2, 2026, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am.

A Committal Service will be held at Holy Trinity Orthodox Cemetery, Elkridge, Elkridge, MD 21075, US, on May 2, 2026, from 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm.