Daria Anne Surowiak

Daria Surowiak (nee Wochok), born in Harrisburg, PA on October 30, 1963, passed peacefully in her sleep on Monday, April 25, 2022 after diagnosis and treatment for cancer. She graduated from high school at Naperville Central High School in 1981 following her family’s moved to Naperville, IL in 1976. She performed on the dance team and joined National Honor Society.

Daria earned her Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design in 1985 at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She danced on the Illinette pom-pom squad, including an opportunity to march in the 1984 Rose Parade and perform at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. She was also involved in Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru), with which she attended a summer mission project in Panama City, FL in 1984. Through that organization, she professed faith in Christ as her Savior and Lord, which she lived out until her passing.

After college, Daria lived in Lombard, IL and then moved to Irvine, CA where her 2 children were born, before permanently relocating to Malvern, PA. Throughout her career she served as a project manager in various commercial interior design firms. Most recently she served as an Associate Designer to Abbey Schwartz at Abbey Schwartz Associates in Wayne. Daria also served in her church while attending Grace Valley Christian Fellowship for many years, singing with the worship team and traveling on a mission trip to Bulgaria. She then discovered the Bachata dance community of the Philadelphia metro area, becoming proficient while attending numerous Bachata events and making many new friends.

Daria will be most remembered for her love for God and other people, her contagious smile, her effervescent humor and laughter, her passion for dance, her unceasing creativity, her impeccable hospitality, her heart for women in crisis, and her determined effectiveness in organizing projects through to completion for the benefit of others, in both her work and personal life.

Daria is preceded in death by her father Cyril Wochok. She is survived by her mother Dorothy Wochok of Naperville, IL, brother Cyril Wochok of Myrtle Beach, SC, brother Matthew of Naperville, IL, daughter Emory Surowiak of Malvern, PA, and daughter Kessa Surowiak of Malvern, PA.