Joseph P. Potyrala, 84, Served as Financial Secretary for P.L.A.V.

Mr. Potyrala was born in Lorain on April 13, 1921 and had been a life-long resident of the city. He attended Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish School, Hawthorne Middle School, and was a 1939 graduate of Lorain High School.

Joseph was a World War II Navy veteran serving as a gunner’s mate aboard the battleship U.S.S. Iowa and the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Los Angeles. He fulfilled duty assignments in both the Aleutian Islands and the Philippine Islands prior to his separation from the military.

Mr. Potyrala was employed in the scarfing department of U.S. Steel Corporation’s Lorain-Cuyahoga Works for forty years; he retired in 1982.

He was extremely active as a fifty-year member of Pulaski Post # 38 of the Polish Legion of American Veterans where he had been a member of the Uniform Committee for forty-eight years and served as the post’s Financial Secretary for twenty-eight years. He also served as coordinator of both golf and bowling tournaments sanctioned by the Polish Legion of American Veterans.

He was a life-long parishioner of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church of Lorain and was a member of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, a member of the United Steelworkers’ Local 1104, a member of the Golden Age Pensioneer’s Club, a member of the Polish American Citizen’s Club of Lorain, as well as a member of the American Slovak Club of Lorain. He was an avid sports fan.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-five years: Margaret (nee Strezovski) and a brother Leo Potyrala of Lorain. He was preceded in death by his parents: Peter and Victoria Potyrala, by brothers Walt, Emil, and Chester, and by sisters: Mary Potyrala in infancy, Rose Creahan. Sallie Kretovics, Pearl Dzambik, Hattie Kozal, and Mary Grace.

Visitation will be Tuesday, May 31, 2005 from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada Funeral Chapel, 3224 Broadway, Lorain. Funeral services will be Wednesday beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the funeral chapel and will be followed by the celebration of his funeral mass at 10 a.m. in Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic, 1454 Lexington Avenue, Lorain. The Rev. Robert Glepko, pastor of Nativity Parish and Rev. Mr. Robert Dybo, Permanent Deacon will co-officiate. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Lorain where military honors will be conducted by officers and members of Louis Paul Proy Chapter #20 of the Disabled American Veterans.

To leave online condolences for the family, please go to www.gluvna.net.