In Loving Memory of Irina Kozak & Stanislaw Kozak
With heavy hearts, we remember Irina Kozak, 75, and her son, Stanislaw Kozak, 49, whose lives ended quietly and tragically in Providence. Their passing has stirred sorrow and reflection across the community, shining a light not only on personal loss but on the fragile realities many face in silence.
According to Providence Police Department, the mother and son were found deceased in a snow-covered vehicle parked outside a Providence hospital parking lot. Authorities later shared that their deaths were weather-related, with underlying health issues also contributing factors. The initial emergency call came on January 28, during a bitter cold stretch when temperatures had dropped into the single digits, as reported by the National Weather Service.
Irina and Stanislaw had reportedly been living in their white Kia for nearly a year. For months, their vehicle was not just transportation — it was shelter, safety, and the only place they could call home.
A Mother and Her Son
Beyond the circumstances, this is a story of a mother and her child.
Irina Kozak was 75 years old — a woman who had lived decades of life, likely filled with memories of another time, another country, another season of stability. She was a mother first. A woman who once carried her son in her arms, who watched him grow, who endured life’s changes alongside him.
Stanislaw Kozak, 49, was not just a statistic in a report. He was someone’s son — her son. For a year, they faced the world together from the confined space of a car. Whatever hardships brought them there, they endured them side by side. That bond — imperfect, human, unbreakable — remained.
In their final days, as temperatures plummeted and snow covered the ground, they were still together.
A Quiet Tragedy
Their deaths were not sudden in the way violence strikes. They were the result of exposure, vulnerability, and circumstances that built over time. It is a quieter tragedy — one that asks difficult questions about housing, healthcare, aging, and how easily people can fall through the cracks.
Two weeks passed before they were found. Two weeks of winter cold. Two weeks in a parking lot where life continued moving around them.
It is a sobering reminder of how invisible suffering can become.
Compassion Beyond Circumstance
Irina and Stanislaw’s lives mattered — not because of how they died, but because they lived. They experienced birthdays, meals shared, laughter once upon a time. They had stories, histories, dreams that may have changed shape over the years but never fully disappeared.
It is easy to define people by their circumstances. It is harder — and more important — to remember their humanity.
They were not “the homeless woman and her son.”
They were Irina and Stanislaw.
A mother.
A child.
A Call to Remember
As Providence reflects on this loss, may their memory inspire deeper compassion — for the elderly, for families in crisis, for those living without stable shelter during brutal winters.
May their passing not fade quietly, but serve as a reminder that dignity belongs to everyone, regardless of circumstance.
To any extended family, friends, or community members who knew them, may you find peace in remembering them for who they were beyond hardship.
Rest gently, Irina Kozak.
Rest gently, Stanislaw Kozak.
May warmth surround you now, and may your names be spoken with kindness and remembrance.
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