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Trisha, who lived a life of service to her family, friends, students, community, country and her Catholic faith, passed away in her Kailua home on September 29, 2022 surrounded by her husband, Gregg, and her daughters. She is survived by her sisters Suzan (Dennis) King and Kathleen (Robert) Ozman, and brother William J. Mach; daughters Nicole (Stephen) Busekrus, Rebecca (Walter) Milas and Heather Henry; her grandchildren Jordan, Ashtyn, Erin, Austin, Adrianna, Ashley; and by her great grandchildren Elliot, Reinhold and Harlow. Trisha was born in Hamtramck, Michigan on July 3, 1944 to William and Henryetta Mach.Trisha graduated from Regina High School in Harper Woods, Michigan and Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. She pursued a long and gratifying career as a school teacher in Michigan and Hawaii, primarily teaching Spanish. Trisha also took over and served as the director of the Artisan School of Design in Honolulu, which she subsequently merged into Chaminade University.
Trisha was a loving, kind, and caring person whose outgoing, selfless and compassionate nature attracted a host of lifelong friends throughout the United States and around the world.
Trisha had many interests that included genealogy, history, and travel.
Being the daughter of a WWII veteran, Trisha enjoyed learning about the war. Her father, William Mach, served in the 8th Air Force, 457th Bombardment Group (B-17s) based in Glatton, England, as a photographer (1944-1945). In addition to traveling to the 457th reunions in the US and England, Trisha served as an officer and director of its Association.
Growing up with grandparents from Poland, Trisha threw herself into researching her family history in Europe. She combined her interests in genealogy and travel to find and meet long-lost cousins throughout the US and Poland, meeting relatives from both the Lewandowski and Mach branches of the family tree. In 2014, Trisha (US) and her cousin Anna (Poland) organized a large reunion of American and Polish relatives in Wloclawek, Poland. It was epic.
Additionally, Trisha enjoyed her visits to Scotland, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Columbia, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong. Particularly satisfying to her were seeing the Northern Lights in Alaska and transiting the Panama Canal.
Trisha was definitely adventurous, even learning and doing very well at indoor rock climbing.
Trisha established and maintained a support group for women with metastatic breast cancer. What started as two women meeting for coffee in Kailua, grew into a group of women supporting each other not only in Hawaii, but thanks to Zoom, across the mainland US and Australia.
She was a dedicated volunteer who helped her community, her students, the Pacific Aviation Museum, the People of Praise and her Catholic Church.
Services will be held on Thursday, October 20, 2022, at St. John Vianney Catholic Church,
920 Keolu Drive, Kailua. Visitation 9:30 am, Services 10:30 am, with short reception to follow.
Burial at Hawaiian Memorial Park, 45-425 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe, 2:00 pm.
Church Services will be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube for those unable to attend.
Arrangements Provided By: Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary LLC
