CHARDON – Shirley M. Pokorny (nee Siska), from Chardon, passed away Feb. 3, 2019, at University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center. She was 90 years old.
Born in 1928, Shirley showed an aptitude for learning at a very early age. She began school in a one-room school house in Chardon Township. When she was a sophomore at Chardon High School, she took first place in the statewide English exam. She graduated as the Salutatorian of Chardon High School in 1945 when she was only 16 years old.
Shirley attended Hiram College for two years and later took a job at Snap Out Forms in Chardon until her marriage in 1951 to Joe Pokorny.
Joe and Shirley met at The Great Geauga County Fair in 1950, where Shirley was a member of the Geauga County Fair Band, playing the clarinet. They wed in January 1951 and had four children.
Joe and Shirley’s lives revolved around their family and they spent their entire married life together in the house that Joe built in Hambden Township.
They volunteered for various school and community organizations throughout the time they were raising their children. They were lifelong members of St Mary’s parish in Chardon.
Shirley was a homemaker extraordinaire and also used her bookkeeping and business skills to help manage Joe’s building and logging businesses. She extended her caring and love to nieces and nephews, especially those in need, and to friends of her children.
She relished being a grandmother and in recent years, a great-grandmother.
After her husband, Joe, passed away in 1995, Shirley managed all of her affairs, including the upkeep of the Siska Farm, which has remained in the family for more than 100 years, something she was very committed to and most proud of.
At age 66, she took a part-time job at Chardon Public Library. She loved the library and she loved working there.
She rejoined the Geauga County Fair Band and played at many performances around Geauga County until she was in her 80s.
As she neared 70, she traveled to Hawaii (Pearl Harbor), England, France (D-Day Beaches) and the Czech Republic, where she visited the small villages of her ancestors. She lived a full life and stated she did everything she had wanted to do.
Shirley, an only child, is survived by her children, Thomas (Shelly) Pokorny, Richard Pokorny, Barbara (James) Kellogg and Nancy (Anne Bruder) Pokorny; five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; and dear sister-in-law, Jan (Speck) (Pokorny) Taczy.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe; her parents, Charles and Hilda (nee Bluhm) Siska; and her niece, Maryann Pokorny-Ryan.
Our family would like to thank the staff at Mapleview Country Villa for the friendly and caring help they provided to our mother during her stay there.
Visiting hours will be held at Burr Funeral Home, 116 South St., Chardon, on Feb. 8, 2019, from 5-8 p.m., and on Feb. 9, from 10-11 a.m.
The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. at Burr Funeral Home in Chardon, followed by a procession to Chardon Cemetery on Park Avenue.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions may be made in Shirley’s name to the Chardon Friends of the Library, 110 East Park St., Chardon, OH 44024.