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Roberta Arlene Silvis Weinschenker
November 30, 2016
Obituaries | The Tube City Almanac | December 01, 2016
Roberta Arlene Silvis Weinschenker, 89, of Irwin, PA and Gainesville, GA, died November 30, 2016 at Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville, where she was taken after suffering a massive stroke from which she never regained consciousness.
Family and friends regarded her as an extremely devoted, kind, and loving person. After
graduating from Greensburg High School in June 1945, Roberta matriculated at Waynesburg College (now University), graduating in 1949 with a B.A. in English with a minor in History, and obtained a teaching certificate. Early on in her teaching career, Roberta taught in Laughlintown, PA, where the school yearbook noted she had coached the girls’ basketball team which “Played four games, and somehow won one of them.” Marriage to Maurice Weinschenker in August 1954 and birth of three children caused her to step out from a full-time teaching career, but she continued to substitute teach in the Norwin School District throughout the 1970s. At the end of the decade, she obtained a real estate license. Her love of flower gardening led her to take a job at Gosnell’s Garden Shop in Irwin. There, she shared her expertise helping many brighten land around their homes, before retiring from the workforce for good in 1987.
After retirement, she volunteered as a library aide for elementary school children in the Norwin School District. Roberta also used retirement to travel with her husband to first Michigan, then later both Georgia and West Virginia to keep tabs on a growing crop of grandchildren. In her twilight years, Roberta’s life continued to revolve around the Bible, her husband and children, and the kitchen. She appreciated church bulletins sent her way, using quotes from them to inspire her. Her husband’s diagnosis with Myesthenia Gravis towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century brought additional burdens her way, which in caring for them she bore with dignity. The only medical complaint she would make to her children was that her knees “were shot.” Roberta was born June 1, 1927 to Levi and Melva Silvis on their farm in Westmoreland County, PA. Her older sister Leona and younger sister Mae preceded her in death. Roberta is survived by her husband of 62 years, Maurice; sons Tim (Karen) Weinschenker of Trenton MI and Kurt (Trish) Weinschenker of Moundsville, WV; daughter Lori (Keith) Floyd of Gainesville, GA; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and their numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. Friends will be received on Friday from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at the James W. Shirley Funeral Home, 176 Clay Pike, North Huntingdon, PA. A funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Gainesville First United Methodist Church, Gadabouts Group. www.shirleyfuneralhome.com.
Originally published December 01, 2016.
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