Most people try to slow down when they hit their golden years.
Not Ray Shimkus. He parachuted from a plane to celebrate his 75th birthday.
Ray Shimkus of Duquesne died on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010, in UPMC McKeesport. He was 80.
The former Army paratrooper lived in the same Duquesne home where he was born on Aug. 31, 1930. Still, he remained spry as he got older.
"I remember asking him 'why the heck would anybody jump out of a perfectly good airplane?'" Bill Schleifer, owner of Maloy-Schleifer Funeral Home, said with a chuckle. Mr. Shimkus worked at the Duquesne funeral home for 13 years.
"He couldn't tell me, but I knew that's what he liked to do."
Family and friends say Mr. Shimkus retired from U.S. Steel and went to work as a car salesman. A member of St. Joseph Church, Mr. Shimkus was involved with the Teutonia Mannerchor Club, a private organization in Duquesne that aims to preserve German heritage in America through traditional songs and music.
Mr. Shimkus was a fixture at the Veterans Hospital in Oakland, volunteering there once a week. At Maloy-Schleifer Funeral Home, he helped funeral directors with services by performing a variety of jobs.
No job was beneath him; Mr. Shimkus would park cars before funerals, transport death certificates and hand out programs to mourners.
"Ray was just a very good man, a very kind man," Schleifer said,
Family and friends say Mr. Shimkus had been in ill health for a while; he spent the last year in the hospital battling symptoms of mesothelioma.
Survivors include his longtime companion, Rita Lehmer of Braddock Hills.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Lillian Shimkus, and brothers William Shimkus and Charles Shimkus.
Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday in Maloy-Schleifer Funeral Home, Duquesne. A blessing service will be at 9 a.m. Sept. 13, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. in St. Joseph Church with the Rev. Dennis Colamarino officiating. Burial will be in St. Hedwig Cemetery.
The family asks that memorials be in the form of contributions to St. Joseph Church, 817 W. Grant Ave., Duquesne, PA 15110.
