Betty Virginia Piorkowski

BETTY P. PIORKOWSKI  STAUNTON, VA…     Betty Virginia Pierce Piorkowski, 95 of Staunton, passed away peacefully in her home on January 13, 2018 with her family by her side. She was born December 24, 1922 in New Haven, CT, to the late Dorothy (Eiby) and Harold N. Pierce. She was preceded in death by her husband Stanley B. Piorkowki and one sister, Dorothy Hitchings.     Betty grew up in Milford, CT, and graduated from Milford High School in 1941. As a youth, she served as a Girl Scout counselor and after graduation worked at the Milford Plumbing Shop. In June 1943, she enlisted in the Navy WAVES and graduated as an apprentice seaman from the U.S. Naval Training School at Boston with a rating of Storekeeper, Third Class.  She left the Navy in August 1946 as a Storekeeper D, First Class, eligible for American Theater, Good Conduct, and Victory medals. Betty served at the U.S. Naval Midshipman’s school at Columbia University and for the U.S. Naval Separation Unit. While in New York City, she met Chief Petty Officer Stanley B. Piorkowski and they married June 2, 1946. Stanley was then stationed in Bremerton, WA and later in San Diego, CA, where the couple spent ten years and where their two daughters were born.     After Stanley retired from the Navy in 1955, the family moved to and settled in Staunton, VA, where Betty’s family was then living. Stanley became a clerk in the U.S. Post Office and Betty fulfilled her life’s goal of being a wife and mother. She also excelled at her avocation as seamstress for her family, sewing clothes, doll clothes, draperies and upholstery. While her children attended parochial school, she served as an “altar lady” for St. Francis Catholic Church with her three dear friends, Virginia Garber, Ruth Gordon, and Thelma Reynard. She was also an assistant leader for the Skyline Girl Scouts and later volunteered for various sewing projects at the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and Museum during her daughter’s tenure as curator.     For Betty, her family and friends were the center of her world. She was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and dear friend and had a long and happy life. She was known for her kind heart and ready smile, as well as for her baked goods.  A Christmas Eve baby, she instilled in her family and friends the joys of that particular season. This year, she celebrated her 95th birthday with her immediate family, after celebrating earlier in the summer with family and friends from all over the country.     Betty is survived by her daughter Patricia Piorkowski Hobbs, her daughter Kathleen Piorkowski Lee and son-in-law David Rexrode, her granddaughter Jennifer Lee McNeal and husband Jared, her three great grandchildren Grace, Tessa, and Samuel McNeal, and her step-great grandson Dylan McNeal.     A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 20, 2018, in the Henry Funeral Home Chapel by Mr. Danny Pritchett. Burial will follow in Thornrose Cemetery.     The family will receive friends from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, January 19, 2018, in the funeral home.     The family wishes to thank the health care providers who took care of our mother over the years, and especially those with Home Instead and Hospice of the Shenandoah who have cared for her during the last few months. Donations to Hospice are encouraged.