Antonia F. Hirtler
Age 88, of Burdett, NY, passed away on January 30, 2026, at her home.
Antonia Hirtler was born on June 6, 1937, in Jamaica, New York, to Anna (Pulke) and Anton Udovich, immigrants from Latvia and Slovenia. She lived her earliest years with her parents and elder siblings Mildred and Arkady Koltunak in a neighborhood where JFK Airport now stands. When she was in third grade, the family moved to Seaford on Long Island, where her younger brother John Udovich was born. It was in Seaford that she met Richard Hirtler. Richard would row his boat past her family's dock hoping to catch sight of her, and in their teenage years, the two would offer to do their family's shopping as an excuse to meet and talk outside the grocery store.
Antonia graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 1959 with a degree in Elementary Education and married Richard Hirtler on Christmas of the same year. Antonia gave birth to Daniel Hirtler in 1961, Lisa Hirtler in 1963, and David Hirtler in 1964. As a young family, they visited the Finger Lakes area and purchased some land with a rustic cabin in Rock Stream. Antonia said she immediately fell in love with the Finger Lakes and eventually convinced the whole family to move here in the summer of 1973. They fixed up an old Greek Revival house on Lake Avenue in Burdett, where their fourth child, Adrianna Hirtler, was born in 1975.
The Hirtler children remember their mother fondly for her vibrant spirit, open mind, and creative and enthusiastic nature. She was always a very supportive mother and extended her loving care to almost everyone she met. She taught briefly at the old Burdett school during its final years and then was the lead teacher at Schuyler Nursery School from the mid-1970s into the 1990s. She was always very proud of the later accomplishments of her nursery school kids. In the 1990s, she extended her nurturing care for others to pregnant and parenting teenagers as a social worker for the Schuyler Economic Opportunity Program.
Always curious about people and life and adapting her skill set to meet current needs, she also worked for a while as a real estate agent, satisfying her curiosity and love for houses and people. In her later years, she spent some time working as a "Mystery Shopper" through online platforms that would send her on assignment to local businesses to assess staff courteousness, ensure conformity to standards, and other random requests. She especially loved when she was allowed to reward staff for meeting expectations.
For a number of years, Antonia volunteered as an election monitor for Burdett village elections and much enjoyed the opportunity to chat with everyone as they came to the firehouse to vote. Anyone who ever walked on Lake Avenue near the western Village of Burdett boundary is also likely to have chatted with Antonia in passing. She loved sitting on her porch, amidst pots of overflowing flowers, and getting and sharing the latest Village gossip with passersby.
Antonia is sorely missed, but she will never be forgotten. There will be a gathering at the Hector Presbyterian Church on her birthday, June 6, where all who knew her are invited to share their memories and fellowship of others who cared about her. The gathering will take place from 2-3 p.m. in the church fellowship hall.