Lois Turk Popkin, 78, a longtime resident of East Windsor, New Jersey, passed away at home on Saturday, March 22, 2025.
Lois was born on May 22, 1946, in Orange, New Jersey, and then moved with her family to West Orange, New Jersey. She attended West Orange High School and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree
in 1968 from Monmouth College, now Monmouth University. In that same year, she also obtained a certificate from the New Jersey Department of Education to serve as an elementary school teacher. Lois then began a teaching career which lasted 15 years. She taught elementary school in Belmont, Massachusetts, and in New Jersey taught in the Asbury Park, East Orange, Livingston, and North Hanover Township school districts.
After obtaining a Master of Education degree in 1982 from Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey, Lois began a 25-year second career as an elementary school guidance counselor in 1983. Working in the Bordentown Regional School District from 1983-2008, she established one of New Jersey’s first elementary school counseling programs and was Bordentown’s first elementary school counselor. She also supervised the Clara Barton School Student Council from 1983-2004.
Lois helped young students with their problems at a crucial time in their development. She was a fierce child advocate, and the students who came to her office for help left knowing that Mrs. Popkin had their back. Lois pioneered programs in conflict resolution, anti-bullying, and peacemaking before those concepts were popular in the elementary school grades. She was honored to receive several local, county, state, national and business awards and grants. These recognitions were primarily for her “Connections Mentoring Program”, which matched over 250 children with community mentors, and for her anti-bullying school-wide and district-wide programs. In 2002 she was named Counselor of the County by the New Jersey School Counselor Association, and in that same year was named Counselor of the Year by the Burlington County School Counselor Association. She retired in 2008 after a total of 40 years in education.
In her younger years, Lois enjoyed ice skating, playing volleyball, swimming at the Jersey Shore, and growing fruits and vegetables in her garden. She became an avid follower of gymnastics and figure skating and looked forward to watching those events on television during the Olympics. She followed politics and current events and was a volunteer on several political campaigns.
Lois and her husband, Bob, met at a dance when they were teenagers. They eventually married in 1969 and recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. Lois gave birth to her daughter Jessica in 1986 and felt that her most important achievement was raising and mentoring Jessica. It was a great source of joy to both Lois and Bob to attend Jessica’s wedding in 2023 and to welcome Jessica’s husband, Jake, into their family.
Lois is survived by her husband of 55 years, Bob Popkin; her daughter Jessica Wilson and Jessica’s husband, Jake Wilson; her brother Charles Turk and his wife Elizabeth Turk; her sister-in-law Doreen Crighton and Doreen’s husband Bob Crighton; and numerous relatives and friends. She was predeceased by her father, Jack Turk; her mother, Sylvia Turk; her brother, Stanley Turk; her father- in-law, Dr. Alexander Popkin; and her mother-in-law, Frances Popkin.
Funeral services were held Wednesday March 26 at Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, in Ewing, NJ. Burial followed at Beth Israel Cemetery in Woodbridge, NJ.
Anyone wishing to make a donation in Lois’s memory can contribute to one of the following or to their favorite charity: 1) The Penn Medicine Hospice Program by check payable to “Penn Medicine Hospice” and sent to Penn Hospice Office, 105 College Road East, 2nd Floor, Princeton, NJ 08540, or by online contribution at www.PennMedicine.org/hospice-donate; or 2) Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road East, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550.
For condolences please visit: OrlandsMemorialChapel.com/Lois-Popkin
