June Margaret Scobie Young Zervos died peacefully in her sleep at the Sitka Pioneers Home on April 27, 2015. She was 96.
June was born in Toledo, Ohio, Dec. 6, 1918. The summer after graduating from Waite High School in Toledo, she and a friend headed to California in a brand new 1937 Chevrolet coupe. She attended business college in California and learned stenography and keypunch operation. During the early 1940s she worked for Sears Roebuck and the Douglas Aircraft Company.
A petite blue-eyed blond, she attracted many beaus. She met and married her first husband, Robert Young in 1941. They had two sons, Larry and Mike. In the early 1950s she accompanied her husband on his Air Force assignment to Yokohama, Japan, where she worked as a cryptographer.
When the marriage ended she and her sons returned to live with her family in Toledo. She worked as a civilian military employee and sometimes spent time with friends at a popular watering hole called Jimmy’s Bar. Eventually she married the owner of the bar, Jim Zervos. They had a son, Rolland.
In the late 1950s, the couple and their three sons moved to Las Vegas, Nev. Jim and June lived and worked in Las Vegas for the next 32 years. June worked for the University of Nevada president and for the county and city governments. When June and Jim retired in 1990 they were intent on escaping the desert heat, and they found a new home in a garden-like setting in Myrtle Point, Ore.
June always believed in the value of reading and she patronized libraries and subscribed to newspapers all of her life. She had a passion for Christmas and could celebrate unabashedly. She was a lifelong Episcopalian, and she was active in the church throughout her life.
In 2004, June moved to her final home in Sitka. For over a decade she thrived among new friends and a community that embraced her. She moved into the Pioneers Home in 2006 and flourished with the care and compassion she found there. Although she was not shy about speaking her mind, the staff came to appreciate her spunk and cheerful, observant personality. She routinely complimented people and her quick smile and sense of humor endeared her to those around her. Her fondness for chocolates, classic movies, ponies, puppies and parties made it easy to keep her entertained.
She was a familiar sight on Sitka streets as she rolled in her wheelchair with her “June Z” Nevada license plate on the back of the chair. Her outings often included singing popular songs from her past or chatting with traveling companions or others she encountered as she rolled along.
One of her greatest pleasures in life was dining out and she was well known by the staff at most Sitka restaurants, which she visited regularly. She liked her coffee hot and her utensils clean. Thanks to excellent care by Sitka dentists, who worked diligently to preserve her teeth, she enjoyed steak and crunchy chips all of her life.
June’s family wishes to thank the dedicated and hard-working Pioneers Home staff and Brave Heart Volunteers for their years of care and love as they grew to become members of June’s extended family. Those who visited, laughed and shared time with June brightened her days and provided her with the best years of her life.
Survivors include her sons, Larry and Mike; daughter-in-law, Karla; grandchildren Jim Zervos and Gina Wintz; and great-grandchildren Alyssa, Joey and Stevie Wintz. She also leaves behind many Greek relatives from the Zervos family, members of the Scobie family, and the Young family related to her through her first husband.
June was preceded in death by her husband Jim and her son Rolly, and she was buried between them in the Norway Cemetery near Myrtle Point, Ore.
