Nova Markovics

ROGERS — was born in Monticello, Ky., in the early years of the Great Depression. She was the only child of Hubert and Lona Koontz. Her dad died when she was 2. She and her mom continued living in Monticello on the family farm. Her mom died suddenly just prior to Nova graduating from high school. Nova was 17 at the time.

Being on her own, she stayed at home for the summer. Then in the Fall, she moved to Chicago to find work. During this transition, she stayed true to the fundamentals her mom taught her growing up. Work hard, study constantly, learn something every day, be respectful to all people, good manners are appreciated, and never forget that God is beside you in good times as well as those that are challenging.

In 1950, she met and married George Markovics, a Naval officer. In 1952, while living in Waukegan, Illinois, Nova gave birth to the first of two children. When Nova’s husband left the Navy, the couple moved to Woodbridge, N.J., where her husband’s mom and dad settled after immigrating to America in 1921.

In 1955, the couple had their second child. This time a girl. While living in New Jersey, Nova worked at the local A&P grocery store. It was then she realized her first love was meeting and helping others. Then in 1957, her husband was promoted to plant manager and transferred to Muskogee, Okla.

When the opportunity came to go to college she was ecstatic. She first attended Bacone College in Muskogee since her heritage was Cherokee. Then she transferred to Northeastern State College in Tahlequah, Okla. Upon graduating from NSC with a teaching certificate in English, she went to work at the Muskogee school system. Nova finally found herself in a spot where she could help others.

While at Muskogee High School, Nova enjoyed every minute of her involvement with students. In addition to being an English teacher, she received numerous awards and accolades for her accomplishments in and out of the classroom. She had her own radio show, managed pep club, headed up the drama department producing top quality plays, was a debate coach, and taught Journalism.

In addition to teaching students about the subject matter of the class, she passed on to everyone key elements to being a good citizen. These were the same traits her mom engrained in her at an early age (work hard, study constantly, learn something every day, be respectful to all people, good manners are appreciated, and listen to other people’s perspective. You might learn something). Two subjects she avoided were religion and politics. But she did share with other there will be good time and there will be challenging times. It is in the challenging times that we have the opportunity to grow as a person. Also, she encouraged students to be receptive to meeting everyone they could. You never know what you can learn from others.

All was going well; then in 1967 she and her husband divorced. One thing Nova and her husband made sure was that Bob and Gail knew they were not the reason for the divorce. Neither parent wanted the children to carry this as burden in the future.

Even though times were hard after she divorced in 1967, she made sure that her son (Bob) and daughter (Gail) understood that life has many twists and turns. You have to work your way thru whatever you encounter. Never lose your perspective of who you are as a person. Stay true to your beliefs. Times will be hard, but believe in God and trust that it is all part of His plan to get you to where you are to be in the future. How you handle the hard parts will help prepare you for what is on the other side of the difficulty. Things will always be better once you transition thru the difficult times. You will reach a higher level.

Since teachers made $3,000 per year in Muskogee, Nova and the children were forced to move to Independence Missouri. Nova doubled her salary and started teaching at William Chrisman Junior High School. She moved to Palmer Junior High several years later.

As her teaching career was coming to an end, Nova started transitioning towards her second love, writing. She always enjoyed short stories which is probably one reason she liked writing lyrics. She was also a lyrist. Her first song recorded was “Loving You” in 1985. Her second song was “Wall of Ice” in 1987. In addition to writing lyrics, she self published her first book titled “REFLECTIONS” in 1986. It is a collection of poems she wrote over time. Her second book, “Driven By Desire” was copyrighted in 2001. After lengthy discussions with a publisher, Nova elected not to publish the book. In addition to being an author, Nova retired in 1992 and moved to Bella Vista to be close to her son and his wife, Mercedes. After about a year, she came out of retirement and returned to the Kansas City area to teach since there was a teacher shortage. A few years later she retired for a 2nd time. After retiring from teaching, many of her students continued to stay in touch with her.

Then in January, 2022 Nova contracted COVID. Bob quickly got her in a hospital. Within five days Nova walked out of the hospital and let Bob know it was time to return to Arkansas. So in a few weeks, Nova moved into the Grand Brook Assisted Living facility in Rogers, Ark.

During this transition when Bob helped her move to Arkansas, it was over the course of the next several months Bob discovered numerous boxes of notes and letters from students covering over 30 years. All of the gifts, cards, and letters showed their thanks for all she did to help them not only in the class room, but what it meant to be a good person. Many students let her know had it not been for her, their lives may have taken a different turn. There is no doubt that Nova was loved by all, helped change lives for the better, and was respected as a person and teacher.

In June of 2022, Nova had a quick onset of Dementia. Since that time she became trapped in the timeframe of 1930 and 1947. When Bob visited, he played along that they were childhood friends, did all he could to keep her spirits up and let her tell stories. There were so many stories of the early childhood.

About a week ago, Nova’s medical team let Bob know the time had come to move Nova to Hospice. Moving Nova to Circle of Life Bob met with the support team and they kept a close eye on here transition. On April 17, 2024 around 11 p.m. Nova quietly passed away.

Nova had so many accomplishments in and out of the classroom. But her greatest accomplishment was helping others find their way and made sure they knew that even if you’re by yourself, you are never alone. She gave them encouragement, confidence, self worth, land never stopped being a friend to everyone she met.

The family is going to have a memorial service 11 a.m. Wednesday April 24, 2024, at Hunt Chapel in Rogers. To leave an online condolence please visit www.bernafuneralhomes.com.