Patricia Diane (Post) Cohen -- "Patti"
Patti Cohen was a devoted mother to her two children, Marc and Danielle, a loving Nana to her grandchildren Emily, Benjamin, Charleigh, and Harper, charming sister to her brothers Richie and Robbie, much loved daughter to parents Henry and Doris, cherished granddaughter to Marion Hamilton and Henry and Viola Post, darling niece to Lucille and John Kirkenir and Eleanor and Steve Proft, sweet cousin to Johnny and Steven, caring mother-in-law to Melissa Cohen and Jim Hammer, stepmother to Sherri and Melissa, and faithful friend to many. Her family was small compared to many, but the time spent together was plentiful, meaningful, and cherished. Thankfully, they allgot along amazingly well – no family battles, no disassociations.
Patti and her brothers, Richie and Robbie, were always close-- especially in age. At the time of her death, they were one year apart – 68, 67, and 66. And there was a miscarriage between Patti and Richie. People always used to ask her, “Didn’t your parents have a television?” As children, they were so close that they all shared the same bedroom until she was 11 years old. Her Mom and Dad did a great job of keeping them friends into adulthood, but the true glue for that bond happened when Doris suffered a fatal brain aneurism at the age of 53. That was the moment when the words “I Love You” ended every physical meeting and every phone call. On the quick calls, it was “Love you,” but on the deeper meaningful calls, it was always, “I Love You.”
Patti was quite popular when she was in high school. She got along with just about everyone. She hung out with the “it” crowd – no, not the jocks and cheerleaders, but rather with kids who were the ones everyone wanted to be as cool as. In fact, she finished 6th in the nomination voting for homecoming queen, which was ultimately won by her good friend Linda. During her senior year, Patti almost shocked the school by introducing what was just becoming a fashion trend – hot pants. They were short shorts, the predecessor to Daisy Dukes, but not cutoffs. One day, she arrived at school wearing an outfit that virtually stopped people in the halls. It consisted of a white collared button-down shirt, mauve, bib overall style hot pants, and high, shiny black faux leather boots just below the knee. She looked Hot, and she knew it. It earned her the nickname “Fine-ass,” a nickname that would follow her into her twenties.
As a teenager, Patti would occasionally challenge her parents’ authority. The best example of that was the incident referred to in the family as, “The Yellow Blouse.” Patti had gone shopping one spring day and bought a yellow midriff blouse, one that comes down to just above the belly button? She showed to her mother who said, “Very nice dear, but it’s not for school.” Patti said in that teenage girl voice, “Of course, mother!” Well, guess who wore it to school? Now you would have thought that Patti would have been a bit brighter, because her mother WORKED in the high school as a lunchroom supervisor. She saw Patti walking down the hall wearing said yellow blouse. Of course, her mom told her father, and he said, “I’ve got this.” At the dinner table that evening, her dad said, “Patti, your mother said that you bought yourself a pretty new blouse. You want to show it to me?” Excited and proud, she jumped up from the table and went to retrieve it. Her dad held it up and examined it and said, “This is very nice,” and then pulled out a pair of scissors and cut it right in half. The open mouth look on Patti’s face had her brothers in hysterics, but Patti learned that when her parents said something, they meant business.
Patti’s true meaning in life came from being a mother. She and and her husband Steve Cohen created two children, Marc and Danielle. In fact, that motherhood almost ended after she gave birth to Danielle. After hemorrhaging badly post delivery, Patti’s heart stopped. She was kept alive by heart massage and CPR. Fortunately a brilliant cardiologist took one look at her on the OR table and said, “This should not be. She’s a healthy, vibrant young woman. All she did was give birth.” He plunged a wire into her heart and shocked her back to life. Ultimately she suffered no permanent damage, and lived to raise her children and see her four grandchildren born.
As a mother, Patti always placed her children first. When her marriage to Steve ended, she and Steve agreed that it was the children that were most important. They worked together to see that the kids maintained healthy relationships with both parents and both sides of the family. No ugly words about each other – no name calling.
As a professional employee, Patti always excelled at what she did in life. In her first job as a cashier at Acme, the cashiers had to manually enter not only the price, but also the department, and taxable status of each item. She and her friend Linda were the two cashiers everyone searched for, because they were fast and accurate. She was tops at the airport desk for National Car Rental at Newark airport. Her work as a shipping clerk at Reefer Express Lines lead to an exciting career in NYC as an insurer of worldwide cargo ships for Alexander and Alexander. When Patti became a mother, she took some time off, but then began working in health insurance field, working for Jeff Stevens for about 20 years. That lead to her most recent position as Senior Broker Consultant for Emerson Reid. Here, she thrived, earning the award given to top company employees twice.
Patti loved many things during her life-- spending time with her children and grandchildren, going to the beach, attending Broadway plays with her brothers and cousin, listening to Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Meatloaf, playing the piano, caring for her many pets, laughing and telling jokes, watching vintage movies, and ogling Jason Statham
Patti moved from Freehold, NJ to Boca Raton, FL in 2019 to live near her daughter's family where she continued to work for Emerson Reid. She loved living there. In January, 2023, she developed pneumonia and was hospitalized. After being released from the hospital, she had difficulty with her recovery. Part of this difficulty was ultimately due to a cancerous tumor resulting from a malignant melanoma that was removed several years earlier. After removal of the tumor, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to her brain. Surgical intervention was unsuccessful, and Patti passed away on July 19th, 2023.