Anna Mae Schroeder

Anna Mae Banko Stanek Schroeder passed away on March 30, 2024, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the age of 91, in the company of her daughter, Anne Marie Seymore, and granddaughter Esther Mignerey.

Born Anna Mae Banko on October 10, 1932 in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, to Joseph John Banko and Josephine Maryann Amelia Toth, she was raised in coal mining towns and on dairy farms around the area. In 1953 she married Joseph Stanek, Jr., of Meshoppen and together they raised six children in small towns in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. Joseph was a high school science teacher and Anna Mae was active in local community activities.

Although she did not attend college, she had a love of learning and was fascinated with music, poetry, art, and European culture. As a young woman she played piano and accordion.

Anna Mae began painting and drawing in the late 1960s. She wrote poems, stories, and verse throughout her life about her thoughts, feelings, family, and friends. At the age of 82 she collected them into an anthology, "Collected Works", using a pen name, Allegra, because it means happy.

Anna Mae and Joseph divorced in 1977 and in 1984 Anna Mae married Norman H. Schroeder (U.S. Army Retired), who died in 1986.

In later life she worked as a caretaker for elderly, and also as a legal secretary. Anna Mae loved the polka and danced regularly while living in Pennsylvania. With a great open-heartedness, she endeared herself to whomever she met through her kind and supportive words and warm hugs.

Anna Mae had a child-like dreaminess and joy of life that never left her. As a grandmother, she recorded dozens of stories on cassette tapes that she mailed to her dispersed grandchildren, who grew up hearing, "This is Grannamae and I'm going to read you a story."

In 2016, Anna Mae joined St. John Orthodox Church in Memphis, Tennessee attending services regularly and entertaining at talent shows with her songs, especially "Saucy Squirrel."

Anna Mae visited her children and grandchildren around the world, offering support when she was needed. After living most of her life in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania, she also lived in Denver, Syracuse, Los Angeles, and Memphis areas, to be near her children at various times, before spending her final year in Idaho.

Anna Mae is survived by six children, thirteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren: Joseph Stanek III of Pasadena, California and his daughters Purnima Stanek and Mihira Stanek; Anne Marie Seymore, of Ammon, Idaho and her daughters Naomi Mignerey and Esther Mignerey, and grandson Nathaniel Pierce; Irene Stanek, of Memphis, Tennessee and her sons Evan Veney, Colin Veney, and Miles Veney, and granddaughter Quinn Veney; William Stanek, of Memphis, Tennessee, and his children Emily Pollak, Timothy Stanek, and Melanie Stanek, and granddaughter Avila Pollak; John Stanek, of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and children Kendra Stanek and Johnny Stanek; and Gerald Stanek, of Oak View, California and his daughter Megan Zholtovski and granddaughter Chloe Zholtovski.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, April 3, at 11:00 a.m. in the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 518 North 5th Avenue, Pocatello. Family will receive friends one hour prior. Interment will be Friday, April 19th. Reception at 10:00 am at Sheldon Funeral Home, 8206 SR 6 (Main St.) Meshoppen, Pennsylvania and burial at 11:00 in St. Joachim's Cemetery on Rt 6.

There is a live-stream recording that will be available indefinitely on the Cornelison Funeral Home Facebook page.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Cornelison Funeral Home, 431 N. 15th Ave., Pocatello. Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.cornelisonfh.com
208-232-0542


 

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