Marion V. Vasko

Marion Pohle Vasko was born in Honesdale, PA on November 29, 1920. As a little girl, she spent many a day on her father’s farm playing with her dog Bingo. She was raised in this bucolic setting by her father, William Pohle, and two aunts, Annie and Bettie. In high school she made a trip with her class to Washington, DC, which must have given her a taste for city life. Her first calling was as a Bell Telephone operator, first in Honesdale, PA, where she won a service award in 1942, and then in Norfolk, VA. This is where she met her husband John Joseph Vasko. After an appropriate courtship, Marion and John married on May 18, 1946 and settled in Youngstown, Ohio. Marion and John raised four children – Patty, Debby, Jimmy, and Johnny – all of whom were the beneficiaries of her amazing homemaking skills. Marion made holidays very special for her children, four grand children, and six great-grandchildren. Food and gifts were not elaborate, but always bountiful. In 1981, Marion and John retired to Palm Harbor, Florida with their son Johnny in tow for his last year of high school. There they enjoyed a renaissance – an active social life, warm temperatures, and many visits from their children. Marion also had a second career working in Jacobson’s Department store. She worked in the lingerie department, fitting prosthesis for breast cancer patients. Marion was by all accounts beautiful. A talented seamstress, she loved dressing up, making clothes, wearing jewelry, and being glamorous. But her beauty was more than skin deep. Marion had an amazing talent of making anyone she was with feel cared for and special. She was a dedicated caregiver for both her Aunt Annie and, in his final years, for her husband John, who died in 2008. Marion and John enjoyed more than 61 years of marriage. After John’s death, Marion continued living and enjoying life to the fullest. In her final years, her gift of caring for so many people over the years was returned in kind by her children and some lovely friends from the neighborhood. People who met her at all stages of her life described her as gracious and nurturing. A woman of faith, Marion was an extraordinary person whose spirit will live on in all who knew her, forever.