UPDATE:

Jean will be laid to rest Monday, May 5, 2025 at 12:30pm at the Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cemetery, Smalls Bush Road, East Herkimer, New York 13350.

Saratoga Springs, NY - Jean Elizabeth Cooley Rinko, 91, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 in the comfort of her home.

Jean was born in East Herkimer, NY on October 27, 1933, the daughter of Glen W. and Dorothy May (Rowell) Cooley. After graduated from Herkimer High School in 1951, she attended Russell Sage College to become a registered nurse. Jean worked at various hospitals, including Ellis Hospital in Schenectady and Saratoga Hospital, before she found her true passion working for Saratoga County as a Public Health Nurse. Visiting patients in their homes was a perfect fit for her; it allowed her to combine her love of nursing with her love for others. Many patients became her dear friends.

Growing up during the Depression, Jean's parents bestowed on her their natural common sense, and how to use and make do with what you have. She was very proud of her Cooley heritage which traced back to the 1600s in Massachusetts. Jean enjoyed camping, hiking, 4-H Club, sewing her own clothes, math, and going to her family's First Baptist Church. She attended high school with John Rinko, and after she asked him to be her date for a Sadie Hawkins dance their future path was set. Jean and John were Queen and King of Jean's Senior Prom, then continued dating while Jean went to college and John served in the Navy. They married in 1955 in Herkimer, NY.

Jean was a kind and gentle soul. She loved her children, and their friends felt welcomed and comfortable in her home. She taught Sunday School at her First Baptist Church, and though she later in life converted to her husband's Russian Orthodox religion, she would still say she was a "Baptist at heart." She found pleasure in sewing clothes for her daughters and their dolls, reupholstering furniture, quilting, and completing cross-stitch and other craft projects. As a 4-H leader, Jean patiently shared her sewing and craft skills with neighborhood girls. During summers she brought her children to a nearby farm to pick strawberries, then preserved them along with produce from her large home garden. Jean had a quiet way of listening to and accepting others without criticism or judgment, and the door to both her home in Saratoga and her cottage at Caroga Lake, NY was always open to family and friends.

Jean is survived by her children, Diane (William) Rinko-Gay, Carol (Ian) Santoro, John (Valarie) Rinko, Jr., and Mary (Michael) Oefelein; eleven grandchildren, Timothy, Catherine, Tabitha; Austin, Colin; Emily, Michael, Alicia; Erin, Kyle, and Meagan, many great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law, Mary Kate Rinko and Jean Cooley Meyer; and other relatives of her large family. She was predeceased by her husband John of 69 years, her parents, Glen W. and Dorothy Cooley; siblings, Glen Ernest, Gladys, Hazel, June, and Ralph; and son, George (who died in infancy).

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 AM on Saturday, April 12th at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church, 349 Eastline Road, Ballston Lake, NY.

Graveside services will be 12:30 PM Monday, May 5, 2025 at Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Cemetery, State Route 5 and the intersection of Smalls Bush Road, East Herkimer, New York 13350.

Arrangements are under the direction of the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes, 628 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (518-584-5373).

Online remembrances may be made at www.burkefuneralhome.com.