Last modified: Friday, May 4, 2007 1:16 AM EDT Family circle The Kozloski family with photos of their father. Mary, the mother, and children Kathleen, 4, Jared, 11, and Hillary, 15. Kathleen holds her favorite photo of her and her father that she kisses every night before she goes to bed. (Staff photo by TOM MAGUIRE) Family bearing up with faith BY M. JUNAID ALAM SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTON -- Mary Kozloski pressed her hands on her knees, wincing and rising slowly from the couch. She reached to the side and pulled out a large white posterboard filled with family pictures. Joseph, her husband, cradling their youngest daughter, Kathleen; standing outdoors, an arm swung around their son, Jared; smiling broadly with their first child, Hillary. Mary had pieced together those photos for her husband's wake last month. Joseph Kozloski died suddenly of a heart attack on March 19. He was 44. "It just seems like it's not real," Mary said through tears. "He was my rock," she said. In a softened tone, Mary repeated, "He was my rock." Her rock when she needed help caring for the children. When she went back to school to become a registered nurse. When she was diagnosed last year with cancer. "Every day it's a battle, it's a struggle," she said of her family's loss. Kathleen, the 4-year-old, "still won't talk about him." Mary said her grief was exacerbated by uncertainty. Her husband, a maintenance worker at Boston Medical, had no life insurance, though he thought he did. And she is unable to work, still weak from the effects of the treatments she has undergone for Hodgkin's disease. In two weeks, Mary explained, she would return to the hospital for a PET scan to determine whether months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment had completely removed her cancer. Seated on the couch, she gently stroked her hands through her son's hair. "We'll be OK, right?" she reassured her 12 year-old with a smile. Many in the area are eager to cement that reassurance with their own support. Some are friends who long admired Mary and Joseph's character and integrity; others are complete strangers moved by the family's plight. As Mary Kozloski spoke of her late husband - taking on extra jobs after the cancer diagnosis, making home repairs, devoting his rare free hours to the kids - Mary Gallagher, longtime friend and former coworker, sat nearby nodding in agreement. "He was working two, sometimes three jobs, working different shifts, so he only had maybe four free hours," Gallagher said in an earlier phone interview. "But when I came by to visit, you would see him out there, particularly with Jared." A fellow Norton resident, Gallagher has come by to visit frequently since her friend fell ill, bringing dinners and comfort. She said the entire staff at Walpole Pediatrics, where the two worked together for several years, had pitched in funds to help the family when Mary was first diagnosed. "Mary is the sweetest and most selfless person I've met in all my life," Gallagher said. She said her close friend frequently went out of her way to help patients and provide support to others undergoing their own cancer therapies. She recalled Joseph as similarly sensitive. At a local Christmas charity last year, she noted, he declined to take any of the proceeds, saying other families were in greater need. With Joseph now gone and his own family clearly in need, Gallagher and staff at her hospital are looking to help again - this time through a benefit raffle and bake sale to be held on Saturday. Other residents have also assisted the family. Johnna-Maria Masala, the local YMCA's program director and a family friend, spearheaded several drives to raise relief funds after Joseph's death. She said she was extremely impressed with the generosity of the community. With help from the North Easton Savings Bank, she opened a donation account for the family there and has sent Mary a number of checks from the contributions. Mary said she has seen kindness from less likely sources, as well. One local woman called to offer six month's worth of COBRA health insurance payments. "A complete stranger," Mary noted in amazement. Another local woman and attorney, Deborah Mason, took on Mary's exhaustive set of paperwork for her. Acquaintances and strangers alike have also come by to deliver groceries and other household supplies. Selectmen and school officials have likewise offered their support. "Nothing anyone says can make us feel better about our loss," Mary said. "But I am so grateful for all their help, and I want to thank all of them." The mother of three added that she has found great solace in her Pentecostal faith. When her husband died, an acquaintance from her church, Foursquare in Foxboro, brought two children with her to Mary's home for a week to help. "The church has been like a family for us," Mary said. Before Joseph died, the couple were also looking to enroll their son, Jared, at the local New Testament Christian School. Though it now appeared financially impossible, the school's principal recently said he would welcome Jared, and sent the family a donation. Mary said she was grateful. "Jared likes his school and his friends, but he is also very spiritual and close to God," she explained. Nestled next to his mother, the young boy softly said that his favorite biblical reading was the Book of Job - an Old Testament poem in which God tests a man's faith by subjecting him to a series of harsh trials, and rewards him for his continued belief. As she awaits her upcoming cancer test, Mary said she is praying for better health and a reversal of side effects that have left her hands and legs partially numb. "I pray every day that I can return to work," she said. "I know that God will carry us and get us through it." M. JUNAID ALAM can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at malam@thesunchronicle.com.