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 John Silen
April 02, 2002
John Silen, 76, of 94 Cromwell Ave. died Tuesday morning at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albany, N.Y.
Born in Pittsfield on April 5, 1925, son of Kuzma and Mary Kasuba Silen, he attended local schools and graduated from Pittsfield High School.
He joined the Army and served with the 35th Division, which went overseas to England prior to the invasion at Omaha Beach. He was wounded in action on Aug. 10, 1945, and was hospitalized until his discharge in 1946. He received the Purple Heart.
Mr. Silen returned to the States and enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, where he studied intermittently and achieved a degree while in his 50s.
He was employed as an automobile technician and repair-man, and began his own garage on South Main Street in Lanes-boro in 1946. He owned and op-erated the Gulf station there until its sale in 1991. He also was employed by the Berkshire County Courthouse as a court officer for 26 years, retiring in 1991.
He attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, and was a charter member of the Lanesboro American Legion Post 446 and the Pittsfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 448. He was also a charter member of the Lanesboro Lions Club and enjoyed traveling, working with cars and mach-inery, and gardening around his home. He obtained his private pilot's license during the 1970s.
His wife, the former Amelia E. Mixa, whom he married Oct. 26, 1946, in Hudson, N.Y., died Dec. 21, 1994.
He leaves two daughters, Nancy L. McKenzie of Virginia Beach, Va., and Patricia A. Silen of Pittsfield, and a grandson. He was predeceased by his granddaughter, Alanna M. McKenzie, who died July 16, 1982.
Calling hours at the DEVANNY-CONDRON FUNERAL HOME will be Friday from 4 to 7. The Panachyda will begin at 6 p.m. Friday evening at the funeral home. Funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m. from the funeral home, followed with the Divine Liturgy at 11 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Church, with the Rev. Yaroslav Kostyk, pastor, officiating. Burial will follow in the Pittsfield Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, if friends desire, memorial donations maybe made to the Veterans Center in care of the funeral home.
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