Car Owner & Seals-It Cofounder Lois Matczak Passes
MATCZAK, Lois – Lois Matczak of Somers, wife of Stanley (Skip) Matczak, passed away on Monday, (July 14, 2008) at Evergreen Healthcare Center in Stafford Springs after a long battle with cancer. At her side were her husband, sister, Joan Hawley and husband Charles, devoted friend Patricia Smith, and her beloved dog, Snookie.
Lois, daughter of John and Mary Zapatka of Simsbury, was born in Hartford in February, 1942. Lois was a 1960 graduate of Simsbury High School, and the Morse Business School. She was married in 1965 in Simsbury, where she had also worked since 1961 as the administrative secretary to the president of Simsbury Bank. Lois then worked as the administrative assistant to the president of Heublien Corporation, and subsequently as executive assistant to the president of Coca Cola and served as an officer of that company in the capacity of Assistant Secretary Treasurer. With the retirement of then-president Paul Roberts, Lois took the opportunity to leave business and care for her retired parents and also her husband’s mother and father.
In addition, she used her accumulated business expertise to co-found, with her husband, Seals-it, a company serving the automotive performance market that was a result of the passion for automobile racing that was a shared cornerstone of her and her husband’s life together. Lois and Skip built Seals-it into a company recognized worldwide in auto racing for both its quality and innovative products. As Super Modified car owners and Silver Crown Series team owners in the United States Auto Club, they used the same skills and determination to win numerous races and championships along with helping to build a number of driving careers and strong friendships with Doug Didero, Johnny Heydenreich, Bentley Warren, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and JJ Yeley, along with publishers and broadcasters Dick Bergren and Chris Economaki. Lois celebrated life with her constantly busy schedule, ranging from driving the race car hauler (with a few tickets along the way), becoming one of the first women anywhere to gain admittance to racing garage areas, and being recognized as co-inventor and holder of patents on auto racing related seals that are used internationally.
Lois also served on the senior housing board of Somers and was instrumental in recognizing the need for and creating a Senior Center in Ellington, partly as a result of her work with the Welcome Wagon and many friends she made in the Somers and Ellington area.
A communicant of All Saints Church in Somersville, Lois is survived by her husband Stanley of Somers, sister Joan Hawley and husband Charles, aunt Stella Kobza of Simsbury; nieces Jennifer Sewell and her husband Scott, grand niece and nephew Caroline and Christopher Sewell, niece Sarah Hawley, brother-in-law Joseph Matczak and wife Allison, and nieces Sarah and Marilyn Matczak of Somers and best friend Patricia Smith of Ellington.
During her illness, Lois would thank her husband each night for a beautiful day. He would like everyone to know he thanks Lois for a beautiful life together. A procession will form on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 9 a.m. at the Somers Funeral Home, 354 Main Street, Somers to All Saints Church, Somersville, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in St. Bernard’s Cemetery in Tariffville. Relatives and friends may call on Lois’s family on Friday evening, July 18, 2008 from 4-8 p.m. Memorial donations in Lois’s memory may be made to The Felician Sisters, 1315 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT 06082. For directions, or to leave an online expression of sympathy for the family, please visit:www.somersfuneralhome.com.
Published in the Hartford Courant on 7/17/2008
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