Obituary of Alphonse J. Pankauski

Alphonse J. Pankauski PEABODY—Alphonse J. Pankauski, 85, a longtime resident of Peabody, passed away on Saturday evening October 2, 2010 after a brief battle with prostate cancer. He was the beloved husband for 49 years of Sophie (Lachowicz) Pankauski, and is survived by his elder son James and daughter-in-law Laura of Harrington Park, NJ and their children Jonathan and Michael, and also his younger son John of West Palm Beach, FL. Al was born in and grew up in Methuen, the son of immigrants from Lithuania, who arrived in the early 20th Century and worked in the linen mills of Lawrence. Before graduating from Methuen High School, where his classmates bestowed upon him the moniker “never idle a minute”, he volunteered to serve in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, turning 18 in Boot Camp on Paris Island in 1943. He served in the Pacific Theatre including the occupation of Guam before being honorably discharged in 1946. He returned home to Methuen and attended Boston University on the G.I. Bill graduating with a B.S. in Business Administration. He met and married his wife, Sophie, a Peabody native, in 1960, and the couple made Peabody their life-long home. He was an entrepreneur who owned and operated the EZ Parking Lot in Salisbury Beach for over 40 years. Al loved literature, and collected books notably of the Civil War, WW II, and business & industry. Relatives and friends are invited to gather at a visitation on Wednesday from 9 to 10 A.M. in the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 20 Church St. Peabody location, with a Funeral Service there at 10 A.M. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Salem. The family requests expressions of sympathy as thoughts in prayers rather than flowers or donations.