Katerina, aka Kate and Kat passed away all too soon on 13 March 2023. She was born to Joseph B. Weikel and Snezana Weikel on 12 March 1994 in Buffalo, NY, and baptized as an infant into the Macedonian Orthodox Church at Saints Cyril and Methody in Blasdel, NY. She moved with her family to Walden, NY when she was three years old in May of 1997. She attended Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and Church at the First Reformed Church of Walden where she learned her love of music and singing. She attended Walden Elementary School and Valley Central Middle and High Schools to graduate in the Class of 2012 (photo) and went on to attend SUNY Albany.
She had a deep love for all kinds of music, gaming, fishing with the family, and many sports. She loved riding bike. Our neighbors fondly recall her at her favorite past time riding her bike around the neighborhood with a smile as she would greet them all with sincerity and enthusiasm as she rode by. She followed in her dad’s footsteps loving and playing bass guitar and her brother’s love of music. She worked a few jobs in the Hudson Valley most notably with Home Depot and then enlisted in the US Army 12 November 2019 and graduated from bootcamp in Fort Leonard Wood, MO to then be assigned to the 64th Military Police Company in Fort Hood, TX where she achieved the rank of Specialist. She was deployed to Poland and Germany in November of 2020.
Her service to the Nation has been recognized and memorialized in our hearts by MAJ Kristoffer Rheingans, the Commander of the 64th MP Company Ft Hood, TX and by General, U.S. Army Andrew P. Poppas the Commanding General United States Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, NC. We will forever be proud of our soldier and her selfless service to our Nation.
Funeral services were held 23rd of March 2023 in Killeen, TX where she was interred with full Military Honors at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, Killeen TX.
She was predeceased by her grandparents Richard Fair Weikel, Elizabeth Thomas Weikel, Atanas Mitreski, Stojna Mitreska and by her uncles Richard Thomas Weikel and William Scott Weikel. She is survived by her mother and father, her brother Thomas Weikel, her nephew Jonah Weikel, her uncle Christopher Weikel, aunt Janet Weikel, uncle Charles (Chaz) Krause and aunt Mary Krause, aunt Joanne Ville, Tetin Petar Stojanovski, Teta Vesela Stojanovska, and Teta Svetlana Mitreska as well as by many, many cousins and second cousins in the US and the Republic of Macedonia.
She was loved by everyone whose life she touched in her days on Earth. She will be dearly missed by her many classmates, friends, “battle buddies”, and her chain of command in the Army. As a family, both here and in Macedonia we loved her dearly will all miss her immeasurably and lovingly hold onto our memories of her, who she was to us, and how she touched our lives.
Rest in Peace Kukla.
With love, Mom, Dad and Thomas.