ARLENE ELVA OKEY

Arlene Elva Okey died of natural causes on May 20, 2017, at the age of 90.

Arlene was born on August 7, 1926, in Jamestown, North Dakota, to William Pomerinke and Paulina (Jeske) Pomerinke. While a small child, her family moved to the West, as her father found work as a lumberjack in Montana, Idaho and Oregon. Her family eventually settled in Toppenish, Washington, in the Yakima River Valley, where she grew up and attended Toppenish High School, playing violin in the school orchestra.

In 1943, while only 17, Arlene left her family's farm and travelled by bus to Seattle, Washington, where she became a "Rosie the Riveter" at the Boeing plant, riveting the wings onto the B-17 Flying Fortresses that flew over Europe during WWII. In May, 1944, she proudly helped to assemble the 5,000th B-17 built by Boeing during the war. Named "5 Grand," the famous plane flew into combat emblazoned with the signature of every Boeing employee who helped to build it.

After the war, Arlene met U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Eugene Paul Okey and the couple was married in Seattle on February 16, 1946. Following a brief honeymoon in Vancouver, the couple returned to Eugene's hometown of Canton, Ohio, where she resided the rest of her life. A devoted wife and mother, Arlene raised the couple's four children while her husband completed his service in the Army, attended college and law school, and built his successful legal practice.

Later, Arlene and her husband traveled throughout the world and brought home countless souvenirs and memories. She was a talented, self-taught painter who once entered an art contest and could scarcely believe it when she won first place. Another of her paintings inexplicably disappeared, only to be rediscovered 30 years later displayed in the Carroll County Courthouse.

She and her husband spent many winters on the Florida Gulf Coast, where she relished long walks on the beach and cocktails with her friends. She made the best popcorn balls, pies and sweet potatoes in the world. But her greatest joy in life was spending time with her children and grandchildren. She deeply loved her entire family, providing endless support and encouragement, cheering every success, consoling every disappointment, and greeting everyone with a warm smile. God blessed Arlene with a patient, kind and generous spirit, and she shared those blessings with everyone. She was a gentle soul, who chose as her own epitaph, "Love is Eternal." Even in her last days, with an enduring faith in God, Arlene enjoyed singing the religious hymns she learned as a child.

Preceded in death by her parents, by her husband of 63 years, Eugene Paul Okey on July 1, 2009, and by her daughter Karen Larraine St. Francis. Also preceded in death by her beloved sisters Lavella Niekarz and Iris Steeves, and by her brothers Walter Pomerinke, Daniel Pomerinke, Arland Pomerinke and Douglas Pomerinke.

She will be greatly missed by her surviving children, Kim Rhonda Oberholtzer (Mattheuw), Steven Paul Okey (Deborah), and Mark Douglas Okey (Kathleen), by her eight grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, brother Delmer Pomerinke, and by her special niece Linda Lambert.

The family would like to extend its gratitude to the caring staff of Bethany Nursing Home, to the health aides from Your Home Court Advantage, especially Dolly and Wanda, and to Rebecca, who provided attentive and compassionate care to Arlene for several years.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday, May 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at Arnold Funeral Home, 1517 North Market Avenue in Canton, Ohio, with a memorial service to begin at 12:00 noon.