Kockinis-mcdermott, Vickie Obituary

Kockinis-mcdermott, Vickie attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, CA. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Kockinis-mcdermott, Vickie.

Graduation Year	Class of 1972
Date of Passing	Feb 08, 2007
About	Vicki Jan McDermott, who was as versatile athletically as she was accomplished and committed to family and friends, died early Thursday from complications of cancer. She was 53. McDermott, the wife of longtime Bee sports department staffer Mark McDermott, was in her 10th day of post-bone marrow transplant treatment at Stanford Medical Center when she died in her sleep. Her death shocked Stanford staffers, who told her family days earlier that the transplant was starting to take hold. And true to her commitment to fitness, McDermott rode her stationary bike before going to bed. "That was Vicki," said her sister, Denise Budmark. "Her philosophy of life was to always be active, that 'I'll rest when I'm gone.'" A 1972 Elk Grove High School graduate, Vicki Kockinis excelled in track and field when Title IX was just coming to form. McDermott played basketball and softball at Sacramento State, where she graduated in 1977. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, McDermott was a standout shortstop who played in seven national tournaments. She was inducted into the Greater Sacramento Softball Association Hall of Fame in 1988. Even pregnant, McDermott excelled in Sacramento-area softball leagues, often the only woman on the field. When she came to bat, outfielders initially rushed in - thinking easy out. She happily roped shots over their heads and into the gaps, scoring runs. "That girl was poetry in motion," said McDermott's mother, Ethel Kockinis. "There wasn't anything she couldn't do." McDermott obtained a teaching credential and coached one year of varsity basketball at Roseville High in the late 1970s before landing a state job, in which she worked for 26 years. She was an avid camper and fisherman, and often family couldn't keep up. In 2005, McDermott went on a 15-day trip to Italy and Greece with her mother and brother, Eric. "She ran circles around us," Eric said. "We'd be in a hotel with our room eight flights up. Mom and I took the elevator, and she'd take the stairs and beat us." McDermott is survived by her husband of 30 years, Mark, of Elk Grove; sister Denise of Elk Grove; brother Eric Kockinis of Wilton; mother Ethel of Elk Grove; children Chanel Rowe, Devin McDermott and Heather McDermott of Elk Grove; and grandson Nicholas Rowe. Services were held at 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, 2007 at South East Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary, 9139 East Stockton Blvd., in Elk Grove. Information published by The Sacramento Bee on Feb. 14, 2007.