Cover photo for Alexa Sulak's Obituary
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1931 Alexa 2020

Alexa Sulak

December 17, 1931 — July 26, 2020

Alexa (nee Collins) age 88, passed peacefully at Balfour at Riverfront Park, Denver, CO on July 26, 2020. Beloved wife of John (Jack) Sulak for 50 years, she is also survived by her daughter Adriana Sulak Bombard, son-in-law, David Bombard and granddaughters Collins Garvick Bombard and Jacqueline Irene Bombard of Edwards, CO.

Alexa was born in Erie, PA to the late Adrian and Frances Collins, and was granddaughter of the late Alexander Jarecki, of Jarecki Manufacturing, and Lucie McBrier Jarecki, the daughter of another of Erie’s prominent families. Alexa was predeceased by her brother Kevin Jarecki Collins.

Alexa attended Mercyhurst High School in Erie and graduated from St. Margaret’s School for Girls (now St. Margaret’s-McTernan) in Waterbury, CT.  She earned a BS from Wellesley College in 1954 and attended Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York, NY.

Alexa lived and worked in Erie, San Francisco and Boston, finally settling in Cleveland in 1962, where she married Jack in 1970, had daughter Adriana and spent the majority of her life.  She volunteered with the Junior League of Cleveland, the Sierra Club, the Wellesley Club, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Laurel School. The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes was the cause to which she dedicated the most of herself for decades.  She had a true love of the outdoors, wildlife, and all animals, especially Corgis.  She took great pleasure in carefully tending her garden on Stratford Road in Cleveland Heights and was deeply gratified by sharing its beauty with neighbors and passersby.

Starting at a young age and into her later life, Alexa was captivated by travel and visited countries, cultures and natural places all over the world. She especially treasured reconnecting with her father’s family in Sydney, Australia and she frequently went with Jack to Mexico as he pursued his studies of Mayan archeology.  They maintained a house at Holiday Valley near Ellicottville, NY for many years to enjoy skiing and were long time members of the Cleveland Skating Club and active in the ice shows.

Alexa is fondly remembered as kind, compassionate, generous, and gracious by her family, caregivers and friends, especially Cynthia Bassett.  She did her best to take thoughtful care of others, even into her last days.  She frequently bemoaned her high school graduation gift of a bible from St Margaret’s that was dedicated to her “constant quiet steadfastness”, but those who knew her will forever cherish her perennial loyalty and devotion to the people, places and causes she loved.

Alexa appreciated funny limericks and wrote some of her own, but one of her most favorite lines is from The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses set in rural Australia by A.B. Patterson: “And he sees the visions splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.”

Donations may be made in her memory to the Shaker Lakes Regional Nature Center Endowment Foundation, 2600 South Park Blvd, Cleveland, Ohio 44120 where she was, prior to her move to Colorado in 2015, a valued trustee.  She will be interred at Erie Cemetery, Erie, PA in the Collins Family plot.

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