Lorraine C. Tomko
Mrs. Lorraine C. Tomko, one of the oldest residents of Buck Hill Falls, PA, passed peacefully on July 16, 2021 at The Hill at Whitemarsh in Lafayette Hill, PA.
Mrs. Tomko celebrated her 99th birthday on January 29th. She was born in 1922 at her family home in the town of Continental No. 2, PA, not far from Uniontown. She was the youngest daughter of George W. and Susan Sechler Haines.
Mrs. Tomko graduated from South Union High School and, not long after, accepted the proposal for marriage from John T. Tomko. She accompanied her husband as he served in the US Army during World War II, stationed stateside at military posts in Georgia and Texas until he was honorably discharged with the rank of 1st Sgt.
At the end of WWII, Lorraine and her husband, along with her sister, Martha Bell, and Martha Bell’s husband, Walter Melnikoff, relocated to the Pocono Mountains. There they became owner/operators of Mountain Cleaners, the first full service dry cleaning, and fur storage facility in the area.
Lorraine was preceded in death by her husband, John, and their youngest daughter, Robyn, as well as brothers Charles, Oscar, Thomas, Russell and Kenneth, and sister, Martha Bell. Lorraine is survived by her daughter, Janise R. Tomko, and her daughter’s husband, David J. Spindel, both of Philadelphia, PA, and by her niece, Sonia M. White, of Canadensis, PA. She is also survived by cousins, nieces and nephews in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey.
Services will be private. Contributions in Lorraine’s name may be made to the Buck Hill Falls Community Services Fund, PO Box 426, Buck Hill Falls, PA 18323, or to the Center on Human Policy at Syracuse University. (Checks should be made payable to Syracuse University with “Center on Human Policy” in the memo line and sent to: The Legacy Fund for Disability Studies and Human Policy, 250 Huntington Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244.)
