Jerry Rashken, 89, Avid Golfer

He was born in Detroit Michigan on February 16th, 1927. He was an only child to George and Sadie Rashken. His first job as a teenager was hauling chickens across Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania for a family owned business. In 1936, he moved with his first wife to Los Angeles, California for a job prospect. He met his second wife, a Lorain native, Joan (Natale) Rashken when they worked together at the Century Plaza Hotel in 1965. They had an impromptu wedding in Las Vegas in 1966. Then, Jerry had a vending machine business and was fortunate enough to drive all over the country. Jerry was an avid golfer and his trips with Joan allowed him to play on the weekends and enjoy gourmet meals wherever they stopped. Joan passed away September 21st of last year.

In 2004, on Jerry’s retirement Joan insisted on coming back to the Lorain area where they settled down in Vermilion. Jerry loved the area and enjoyed a fantastic life with good friends and good people around him. Jerry and Joan frequented local restaurants and were friends with patrons and employees alike. They were well known and loved in their community.

Always active, Jerry got a delivery job at Domino’s Pizza when he first moved to Vermilion as a way to get to know the people and community he would come to love and appreciate. After two strokes, when it was no longer possible for Jerry to live alone, he moved to Baltimore, Maryland to live out his final months.

Jerry is survived by his grandchildren from his first marriage Suzanne, Jimmy and Bridgette, and his dear friend Philip Brilliant of Baltimore, MD and countless friends and neighbors in the Vermilion-Lorain area.

A graveside funeral service will be held Monday January 2nd at 11:00 am at Brownhelm Cemetery on the corner of North Ridge Rd & Sunnyside Rd in Vermilion.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada Funeral Chapel, 3224 Broadway Ave, Lorain.

Online condolences can be made at www.gluvna.net.