DARLENE S. KOBYLAR, age 68, a resident of Irving for 44 years, died Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Born March 31, 1946 in San Antonio, Texas, she was the daughter of Arthur Brun and Mildred Koppelman Brun. On June 6, 1970, Darlene married Richard Kobylar in San Antonio. She was employed as a teacher at Wesleyan Acadame in Irving, and after retirement volunteered as a teachers aide there. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Phillip Brun. Survivors include her husband, Rich Kobylar of Irving; sons, Scott Kobylar and wife Yitza of Sugarland, Ryan Kobylar of Lewisville and Jason Kobylar and wife Linh of Allen; daughter, Cathy Kobylar and partner Lisa of Wisconsin; four grandchildren, Ayla, Alex, Jacob and Lauren; brother, Tom Brun and wife Karen of Leander. The memorial service for Darlene Kobylar will be held May 31st at 2pm at the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church, located at 1615 W. Airport Freeway, Irving, Texas 75062. Any donations should be sent to the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church at that same address. The checks should be made out to the "PPUMC Memorial Fund" and note that it is for "Darlene Kobylar". These donations will be used to provide her favorite children's books to the Wesleyan Acadame library for use by her students and fellow teachers as a final but ongoing gift. Darlene Sue Kobylar was much loved by her family and friends and will always be with us in our hearts and memories. She never sought the spotlight, but she was the person that many moms and dads turned to for advice about their children. They knew that Darlene would take the time to provide her best recommendations to them. This included recommended books for the children to read, answers to questions about how the children were developing, how to handle different behaviors, and many more difficult situations that parents and teachers often encounter when trying to make the best decisions for their children or students. She was very experienced with her own family as well as her classroom students. She understood that early education is the foundation for later success in life, and that reading is the cement for that foundation. She spent many hours pursuing the best teaching resources she could find for her students and her own children, and to share with other teachers and parents. Educating children was her passion and it showed in everything she did. She was equally passionate about reading, and recognized the need for good books in every phase of life. The primary characteristic in Darlene was her ability to accept other people as they are and to bring out the best in them. This applied to her students, family, friends and anyone she knew. We sometimes see things in other people that are different from what we feel and it can color our relationships with them. Her students might rebel or not be motivated. Children go through stages and become teenagers. Husbands can focus on their own concerns. Strangers marry our grown children and come into our lives. Fellow teachers and parents have concerns with their students or children. It was all OK for Darlene. She would accept us all as we were, help us along with her suggestions and thoughts, and never judge or reject anyone. She never argued or got angry. When someone was ready to reach out to her, then she was always ready to take their hand and move on. Her hand will be missed terribly by all of us. She gave us self-acceptance when we needed it and the everyday strength and confidence when things were tough. Darlene started teaching in San Antonio schools in 1967 after her graduation from Texas Tech in Lubbuck, Texas. After getting married in 1970, she taught primary grades in Irving public schools for three years until her own children were born. Besides raising her own family, she formed close relationships with several neighbors and tutored and aided in educating their children. They are still good friends today. She shuttled a full load of neighborhood children to school in the family Suburban for several years. She sat through many Friday night football games to support her favorite tuba player, drummer, coronet player and clarinet player. She organized many neighborhood garage sales to raise some extra money. She packed for 31 of our Indian Guides and Indian Princess campouts. She camped with us in a tent, a pop-up, a 24 footer, and another pop-up. She did all the "mom" things to take care of the family and good friends without complaint. In 1991 she returned to teach kindergarten and 1st grade and kindergarten at Wesleyan Academe at the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church in Irving Texas. She retired in 2009 to spend more time at home, but continued as a teachers aide at Wesleyan until her death on May 6, 2014. She leaves a legacy of parents and students she has helped over the years, and it was not unusual for them to see her at a local mall and say "Are you Mrs. Kobylar" and then spend some quality time thanking her for her efforts and showing pictures of their teenagers or now grown up children. Darlene had other interests including "anything Disney", traveling, reading, hiking, collecting, and just sharing quality time with family and friends. Darlene had many trips to Disney World and it has become an important destination for our family because of the many memories we shared there. We went to other vacation spots, but WDW was her preferred destination even if we had to camp in the rain, ice storms, or 100 degree weather. We found that the only warm winter gloves they sell in Orlando have 4 fingers (just like Mickeys). She liked a bargain and spent many hours at The DAV and Irving Thrift stores. Many toys, ceramics, books, clothing, etc came to our house for the children and for us. Even more books came from Half-Price books, and she knew the location of all of their stores that were within 20 miles. You could always find her in the Clearance or Childrens sections. After Half-Price Books, we always made a stop at a Disney store, especially the Grapevine Mills Disney Outlet. The Clearance section should have a special spot for her for all the time she spent looking for a special inexpensive Disney toy for our family. Darlene had several "collections". She collected rocks (blue, green, red, anything pretty that caught her eye). It was not unusual to bring home 10 to 20 pounds of rocks from our trips. We have llanoite from roadcuts in Llano, Texas; agate rocks from Big Bend roadsides; fossils from Mineral Wells Fossil Park; pine cones from Yellowstone and elsewhere; topaz from Mason, Texas; cotton balls from west Texas cotton fields, and she even tried to bring home a tumbleweed from Alpine, Texas a few weeks ago. She collected Disney things which are throughout the house. She had toasters, phones, cookie jars, movies, toys, mirrors, pencil holders, books, movie cells, artist drawings, and of course Mickey and Minnie in our room. We have special family photos on Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror, and I have some matching pajamas. Our family could find hidden Mickeys with the best of them, and I found an electric transmission line shaped like the Mickey icon. She is all through our house in the memories she collected. We had many memorable experiences together that I am grateful for. These start with marrying the person that made me feel good about myself, and then having and raising our children. Then comes Indian Guides / Indian Princesses, and family trips to Chicago, Wisconsin, Houston, San Antonio, Austin. Fun trips to WDW, national parks, state parks, camping, hiking, many museums, taking pictures, being in the car together or a plane, anywhere was OK. Everyday things like watching the news, and discussing politics, geology, fossils, family, friends, buying a house, planning the backyard, arranging furniture, hanging shelves, cleaning the garage, going to the doctor, shopping, mailing a letter, reading, going to museums and zoos, looking at photos, and planning the future things we still wanted to do together. She loved rainy overcast days and not the sunshine. It rained this last week for her. She would have liked that. Her final contributions are her organs, which went to several unknown recipients in Houston. We plan to communicate with them to share our stories. In addition, we plan to donate some of her favorite childrens books in her memory to the school library where she taught. She was a unique, loving, interesting person, a dedicated teacher, and a beautiful woman. She was a daughter, a wife, a mother, a caregiver, and a good friend. We all miss her so much, and I know she misses us. It is too soon for her to leave us. She had so much more to give and we will be poorer because she is gone. I carry her memory with me. We need to cherish the years we had with her, and not focus on the years we will be missing her. Rest in peace sweet girl. Till we meet again. The memorial service for Darlene Kobylar will be held May 31st at 2pm at the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church, located at 1615 W. Airport Freeway, Irving, Texas 75062. Any donations should be sent to the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church at that same address. The checks should be made out to the "PPUMC Memorial Fund" and note that it is for "Darlene Kobylar". These donations will be used to provide her favorite children's books to the Wesleyan Acadame library for use by her students and fellow teachers as a final but ongoing gift. Darlene Sue Kobylar was much loved by her family and friends and will always be with us in our hearts and memories. She never sought the spotlight, but she was the person that many moms and dads turned to for advice about their children. They knew that Darlene would take the time to provide her best recommendations to them. This included recommended books for the children to read, answers to questions about how the children were developing, how to handle different behaviors, and many more difficult situations that parents and teachers often encounter when trying to make the best decisions for their children or students. She was very experienced with her own family as well as her classroom students. She understood that early education is the foundation for later success in life, and that reading is the cement for that foundation. She spent many hours pursuing the best teaching resources she could find for her students and her own children, and to share with other teachers and parents. Educating children was her passion and it showed in everything she did. She was equally passionate about reading, and recognized the need for good books in every phase of life. The primary characteristic in Darlene was her ability to accept other people as they are and to bring out the best in them. This applied to her students, family, friends and anyone she knew. We sometimes see things in other people that are different from what we feel and it can color our relationships with them. Her students might rebel or not be motivated. Children go through stages and become teenagers. Husbands can focus on their own concerns. Strangers marry our grown children and come into our lives. Fellow teachers and parents have concerns with their students or children. It was all OK for Darlene. She would accept us all as we were, help us along with her suggestions and thoughts, and never judge or reject anyone. She never argued or got angry. When someone was ready to reach out to her, then she was always ready to take their hand and move on. Her hand will be missed terribly by all of us. She gave us self-acceptance when we needed it and the everyday strength and confidence when things were tough. Darlene started teaching in San Antonio schools in 1967 after her graduation from Texas Tech in Lubbuck, Texas. After getting married in 1970, she taught primary grades in Irving public schools for three years until her own children were born. Besides raising her own family, she formed close relationships with several neighbors and tutored and aided in educating their children. They are still good friends today. She shuttled a full load of neighborhood children to school in the family Suburban for several years. She sat through many Friday night football games to support her favorite tuba player, drummer, coronet player and clarinet player. She organized many neighborhood garage sales to raise some extra money. She packed for 31 of our Indian Guides and Indian Princess campouts. She camped with us in a tent, a pop-up, a 24 footer, and another pop-up. She did all the "mom" things to take care of the family and good friends without complaint. In 1991 she returned to teach kindergarten and 1st grade and kindergarten at Wesleyan Academe at the Plymouth Park United Methodist Church in Irving Texas. She retired in 2009 to spend more time at home, but continued as a teachers aide at Wesleyan until her death on May 6, 2014. She leaves a legacy of parents and students she has helped over the years, and it was not unusual for them to see her at a local mall and say "Are you Mrs. Kobylar" and then spend some quality time thanking her for her efforts and showing pictures of their teenagers or now grown up children. Darlene had other interests including "anything Disney", traveling, reading, hiking, collecting, and just sharing quality time with family and friends. Darlene had many trips to Disney World and it has become an important destination for our family because of the many memories we shared there. We went to other vacation spots, but WDW was her preferred destination even if we had to camp in the rain, ice storms, or 100 degree weather. We found that the only warm winter gloves they sell in Orlando have 4 fingers (just like Mickeys). She liked a bargain and spent many hours at The DAV and Irving Thrift stores. Many toys, ceramics, books, clothing, etc came to our house for the children and for us. Even more books came from Half-Price books, and she knew the location of all of their stores that were within 20 miles. You could always find her in the Clearance or Childrens sections. After Half-Price Books, we always made a stop at a Disney store, especially the Grapevine Mills Disney Outlet. The Clearance section should have a special spot for her for all the time she spent looking for a special inexpensive Disney toy for our family. Darlene had several "collections". She collected rocks (blue, green, red, anything pretty that caught her eye). It was not unusual to bring home 10 to 20 pounds of rocks from our trips. We have llanoite from roadcuts in Llano, Texas; agate rocks from Big Bend roadsides; fossils from Mineral Wells Fossil Park; pine cones from Yellowstone and elsewhere; topaz from Mason, Texas; cotton balls from west Texas cotton fields, and she even tried to bring home a tumbleweed from Alpine, Texas a few weeks ago. She collected Disney things which are throughout the house. She had toasters, phones, cookie jars, movies, toys, mirrors, pencil holders, books, movie cells, artist drawings, and of course Mickey and Minnie in our room. We have special family photos on Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror, and I have some matching pajamas. Our family could find hidden Mickeys with the best of them, and I found an electric transmission line shaped like the Mickey icon. She is all through our house in the memories she collected. We had many memorable experiences together that I am grateful for. These start with marrying the person that made me feel good about myself, and then having and raising our children. Then comes Indian Guides / Indian Princesses, and family trips to Chicago, Wisconsin, Houston, San Antonio, Austin. Fun trips to WDW, national parks, state parks, camping, hiking, many museums, taking pictures, being in the car together or a plane, anywhere was OK. Everyday things like watching the news, and discussing politics, geology, fossils, family, friends, buying a house, planning the backyard, arranging furniture, hanging shelves, cleaning the garage, going to the doctor, shopping, mailing a letter, reading, going to museums and zoos, looking at photos, and planning the future things we still wanted to do together. She loved rainy overcast days and not the sunshine. It rained this last week for her. She would have liked that. Her final contributions are her organs, which went to several unknown recipients in Houston. We plan to communicate with them to share our stories. In addition, we plan to donate some of her favorite childrens books in her memory to the school library where she taught. She was a unique, loving, interesting person, a dedicated teacher, and a beautiful woman. She was a daughter, a wife, a mother, a caregiver, and a good friend. We all miss her so much, and I know she misses us. It is too soon for her to leave us. She had so much more to give and we will be poorer because she is gone. I carry her memory with me. We need to cherish the years we had with her, and not focus on the years we will be missing her. Rest in peace sweet girl. Till we meet again.