Vera Baka

Vera A. Baka (nee Shepec) age 95 of Euclid passed away on April 21, 2024 at Hospice of the Western Reserve in Westlake Oh. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday April 29, 2024 at 10:00 am at St. Mary’s Catholic Churc, 15519 Holmes Ave. Cleveland, Oh. 44110 Please Meet at Church, Interment All Souls Cemetery Chardon, Oh. Friends may call on Sunday April 28, 2024 from 2-4 and 6-8 at Corrigan-Deighton Funeral Home, 21900 Euclid Ave, Euclid, Oh. 44117.

Vera was born on April 8, 1929, in Cleveland Oh. to Frank and Vera Shepec, both immigrants from Slovenia. As a child she won a beauty contest and as a young girl she learned to play the piano. While attending Collinwood High Scholl, she played the saxophone in the school band. Music was one of her loves in life, and she later learned to play the organ and enjoyed polka music and bands.

While living near 140th St and Lakeshore Blvd, she met her husband Frank who moved to her street form Monessen, Pa., after his discharge from the Navy, serving in World War II. They were married August 27, 1949. They began their marriage and family first in Collinwood and then in Euclid, moving into a newly built house in 1955.

She started her working career at Eaton Axle. When her youngest of four children started school she worked for Picker X-Ray and Thompson-Ramo-Wooldbridge, aka TRW, from which she retired. .

She enjoyed playing organ, pinochle and any kind of board game. She was a member of the Kelleys Island Homeowners Association. Her time there provided lifelong memories for her children, grandchildren and friends.

Throughout their marriage Vera and Frank lived in two other homes in Euclid. They were members of St Robert, Holy Cross, and St John of the Cross Catholic parishes.   

Vera was an admired cook and baker. As a child of immigrants and the Great Depression, shopping at thrift stores gave her pleasure. She enjoyed vacations to Europe, Hawaii and the Caribbean, and while in England she visited a lifelong pen pal, a friendship that began decades earlier during World War II. While on her trip to Europe she bonded with her Slovenian relatives, who remain friends to this day. She also traveled to the Mountain West, Florida and Canada.

She was preceded in death by her husband Frank, son Jeffrey and sister Dorothy. She is survived by sons Kenneth, of Richmond Hts.; Daniel, of Cleveland; and Mark (Barb), of Eastlake;  grandchildren Christine Dunn, of Summerset, SD; Jacqueline Morrow, of Essex, Conn.; Michelle Fearon (Caitlin), of Chester, Conn.; Elizabeth Tervo, of Rapid City SD.; Michael (Caitlin), of Eastlake.; Jennifer Northern (Brad),  of Mentor, David of Eastlake and 11 great-grandchildren.

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