Donald T. Sharko

Donald Sharko was 94 and 113 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes and 42 seconds short of his 95th birthday. Our Dad loved to measure, probably because he enjoyed a Mechanical Drawing class at Tilden High School. There, he graduated 11th in a class of 600 and was chosen to be one of 6 student speakers at Commencement. The topic assigned was "Can the United Nations prevent World War 3?" Always the optimist, he wanted to end on a high note and explained that it could absolutely be done. He was 16 years old at the time. He was also working part-time at Spiegel Catalog sales. He passed away very peacefully on April 29th at his Oak Lawn house that he built in 1972. He is dancing in Heaven with our Mom and the love of his life, Lorraine. He is preceded in death by his parents George and Alexandra (Alice) Sharko, brothers George, Gerald, and Greg, and sisters Sister M. Maurita SSC and Eleria St. Aubin. Don is survived by his children Paul (Janet) Sharko, Don (Susan) Sharko, Stephen and Madeleine. He is also survived by grandchildren Amanda Sharko, Cecily (Tom) Buehler, Marisa (Tom) Lang and Joe (Mary Beth) Sharko. He was the proud great-grandfather of Heidi, Sarah, James, Molly, Caroline, Juliet, Danny, Adeline and Mick. A graduate in the School of Commerce at Loyola University of Chicago, he enjoyed being an entrepreneur second only to being a successful salesman during college for Watkins Products and Sexton Brothers. Later, after his military deployment, he worked as a Supervisor at Montgomery Wards Mail Order Division and then as a salesman at US Reduction, selling aluminum ingot to die- casting plants after having taken a metallurgy class. He combined interests and decided to have his own business and sell his own product. He created Don's Drive-ln in South Shore/South Chicago at 83rd and Burley when he was 27 years old. To the delight of his children, he often brought his " work" home and also his young children to work where we prepared orders, poured soft drinks, cleaned tables, swept floors, waited on customers and unpacked frozen foods and paper products in the storage room and basement during our "summer vacation" and breaks from school. He wanted his family around him. We were never in his way, even when we were clearly underfoot. He loved us immensely and we knew it. He was open 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and catered especially to the men and women at US Steel South Works a few blocks away. Many years later, he joined his brothers in operating and owning one of the Sharko Restaurants located at 6301 W. 63rd Street, where his children (now young adults) also worked alongside him in the dining rooms, kitchen and lounge for many years and especially on all major holidays. Finally, in 1995, he accomplished his goal of real estate development and sales by building and selling 3 condominium buildings on the site of his former restaurant. Our Dad proudly served in the US Army during the Korean War. He got married in Chicago while on a leave in November of 1951. As a 22-year-old, he was away from his new bride for almost 2 years while being stationed in Yokohama, Japan. There, he worked full-time in a veterinarian clinic on base. Our house had a collection of well-meaning dogs over the years that Dad trained to drink morning coffee, watch Masters golf on tv with him and, while in his lap, help him steer his Mercury Marquis to his favorite local hangout, the Oak Lawn Jewel on 103rd Street and later, to St. Casimir's Cemetery to visit Lorraine. (Thank you to Mary at Jewel for patiently listening to his many requests and for writing friendly notes on his Atlantic salmon packages.) Our Mom married him because he was fun and full of life. He reminded her of her favorite actor, Danny Kaye. She decided he was the one after he took her to her favorite ballet and then proceeded to try and impress her with his own improvised ballet moves and leaps in the streets of downtown Chicago after the performance. Our Dad never took himself seriously. He only took matters of the heart and faith seriously. In his later years, as a widower, he continued to reinvent himself by joining the St. Linus Choir (" I'm just loud and I have guts."); the St. Vincent DePaul Society (where, after Communion, he slowly sang, not spoke, an annual request for donations much to the chagrin of parishioners who wanted to leave Mass early); and St. Xavier University's Renaissance Academy for Lifelong Learning where, as an 87-year-old student, he decided that the group needed their own logo and sweatshirts. Of course, his working and very middle-aged children were asked to take off work to assist in the design, sales and personal delivery of hundreds of red RA sweatshirts. He would like us to thank the many customers who frequented Don's Drive-ln and Sharko's restaurant over the years. He thanks Dr. Mohammed A. Alawad and Dr. David A. Nelson DDS for years of world-class health care that allowed our Dad to live his best life on his own terms for so long. If you have lived on LaPorte Street in the past 51 years, there's a probability that you helped our Dad in some way. Thank you to all the neighbors who went out of their way for our Dad and who want to remain anonymous. Sometimes they use aliases like Don and Patsy Carey and Dan and Liz Martin. Thank you to caregivers Alisha Porter and LaVensis Mays whose attention extended our Dad's life. Finally, our Dad who believed in finding happy moments, no matter the circumstances, chose "Smile" by Nat King Cole as his favorite song. Memorials welcome at Honor Flight Chicago www.honorflightchicago.org or Sisters of St. Casimir 2601 W. Marquette Road Chicago, Illinois 60629-1817. Funeral Monday May 6th, 8:45 am from Thompson & Kuenster Funeral Home 5570 W. 95th Street in Oak Lawn to St. Linus Church 10300 Lawler Ave. Oak Lawn for Mass at 9:30 am. Interment St. Casimir Cemetery. Visitation Sunday May 5th from 3:00 until 8:00 pm.