Tessy L. Cofman

Tessy L. (Hodin) Cofman, of Pembroke Pines, FL, formerly of Worcester, died after a long battle with cancer on April 8, at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. She was 77 years old.
Mrs. Cofman was born in Berlin, Germany, on October 6, 1935. Her parents, Leopold and Ruth Hodin, and her older brother, John, narrowly escaped from Germany in 1938 during the rise of the Nazi regime prior to World War II. The Hodins traveled by train to Holland and from there made their way to London, where the family lived through the war years and for three subsequent years before embarking on a new journey to the United States.
The Hodins arrived at Ellis Island in New York in December 1948, and settled in Worcester, living first on Park Avenue and later on Chandler Street. Mrs. Cofman was a 1953 graduate of Classical High School in Worcester, and attended Salter Secretarial School.
She worked for many years at Aetna Life & Casualty in Worcester, and before that at David Clark Company. Mrs. Cofman was a personnel secretary at David Clark Company at the height of the space race in the 1960’s, during which the United States’ original astronauts were provided the suits they would wear on their historic missions.
Mrs. Cofman moved from Worcester to Florida in 2006, where she resided until returning to Massachusetts recently to be with her family while receiving further treatment for her illness.
She is survived by her daughter, Debra Recka of Middleton; her son, Mark Cofman, and his wife, Paula, of Hull; her brother, John Hodin and his wife, Sylvia, of Orange, Conn.; stepsons, Geraldo Rivera and his wife, Mary, of Worcester, Jeffrey Weiser and his wife, Anna, of Simsbury, Conn., Lee Weiser of Leominster and Perry Weiser of Worcester; four grandchildren, Lindsey Recka, Evan Recka and Jack Recka of Middleton, and Giana Cofman of Hull. She is also survived by two nieces and one nephew.
FUNERAL SERVICES WILL BE HELD ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11th AT 2 PM IN TEMPLE EMANUEL AT 280 MAY ST. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF RICHARD PERLMAN OF BREZNIAK RODMAN FUNERAL HOME OF NEWTON. Burial will be in B’Nai Brith Cemetery.
Memorial Observance will be announced at the time of the funeral