Evelyn Ruth Pantages dies, mother of BJ's Larry

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Evelyn Ruth (Gretta) Pantages, mother of Beacon Journal business editor Larry Pantages, died Wednesday evening at the age of 81, of a heart and brain seizure complications.

A child of the Great Depression, she was the fifth of 11 children born to Adam and Susan Gretta on Dec. 23, 1929, in Keisterville, Pa.

She married Frank William ``Billy" Pantages on May 30, 1953, and later gave birth to son Lawrence Adam and son Martin William. Perhaps her first adversarial encounter with life's mystery of faith as an adult came when Martin's twin sister Martha was born with a respiratory ailment and lived only one day.

She and Billy were married 57 years. They operated a tavern near the tire factories in Akron from the 1950s to the 1980s. Leo's Cafe, named after building owner Leo Sweet, was located on Seiberling Street (in the 1960s and '70s) and on East Market Street in a former Burger King restaurant (in the '80s). In between shifts of cooking, tending bar, cleaning and a wide assortment of duties, including making sure Larry and Marty got grape and cherry lollipops from the drive-in tellers at the Goodyear Bank, she found time to: -- raise two sons and be the doting ``Gram' with five grandchildren

She was preceded in death by her husband, Billy; infant daughter, Martha; her parents; and brothers, George, John, Frank, Melvin, Robert and James. She is survived by sisters, Helen (Kukasky), Alma (Manuszak) and Jeanne (Schewe); and brother, Richard; sons, Lawrence (Carvel) and Martin; grand-daughters, Celeste (Bradley) Wagner and Cassandra (Matthew) Brenn, and grandsons, Alexander, William and Nicholas.

Funeral service will be Monday at 10 a.m. at St. John Lutheran Church, 550 E. Wilbeth Rd..width the Rev. John Eiwen officiating. Interment will be in East Akron Cemetery. The family will receive friends Sunday, 2 to 6 p.m. at the Anthony Funeral Home Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz Chapel, 1990 S. Main St., and Monday, 9 to 10 a.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. John Lutheran Church. Anthony, 330.724.1281 www.anthonyfh.com

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Saturday, October 8, 2011, page B5, col.2]]