Birth date: Jan 13, 1922 Death date: Dec 20, 2025
Anna K. Chomo, 103, of North Fort Myers, Florida, passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at Gulf Coast Village in Cape Coral, Florida. Anna was born on January 13, 1922, in (Ashmore) Hazleton, Pennsylvania. She wa Read Obituary
Anna Chomo 2018
December 1943
Some interesting things about Mom’s life:
She entered school not being able to speak English – only Ukrainian.
She married Dad 1 day before he enlisted in the Army Air Force. He was overseas in the SW Pacific over 2 ½ years. They were married 57 years when he passed away.
She worked for the Department of the Air Force as a clerk typist until I was born.
She had an avid interest in NASA, maybe because her twin brother, Uncle John, worked at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL.
I remember being in the backyard of our house in Harrisburg watching for & seeing Sputnik go across the sky (in 1957).
When we moved to Florida in 1960, our house was positioned so that she could see the Cape Canaveral rocket & space shuttle launches from the kitchen window. She watched a lot of them through the years.
Mom always loved to travel & she & Dad took several big trips & cruises. She loved their Hawaii trip & managed to ‘acquire’ black sand in her shoes. That was one of the places they collected sand from - Gulf Shores, the Caribbean islands, Bermuda & the Mississippi River to name some others.
This travel sand collection was so important to her that she actually wanted it buried with her, in the coffin, at her feet. She wanted the sand poured into a favorite container made in Russia. It is with her now.
One of the things Steve & I started to do was to follow NASCAR & go to the races in Daytona & Homestead. She started following as well & watched the races until it got too hard to find them when she was in the nursing home. We do not remember her favorite driver when she started watching but it was definitely Dale Earnhardt, Jr when he started racing in the Cup series.
She also loved watching the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness & the Belmont Stakes – she would make her picks & usually have more than one pick correct.
Another favorite of hers to watch was the Little League World Series – they play in Williamsport, PA & Dad had helped build the Original field at Memorial Park. She also never failed to watch the World Series every year.
She loved playing cards & games. Pinochle, Canasta, Samba & Uno (when Damien was little). She & Dad used to go & play Bingo a lot. I’m not quite sure where they played, but they had all the markers & would play 10 cards at a time each – they definitely had a system.
When she moved into assisted living living she surprised me by not participating in many social events but she kept herself entertained reading, doing crossword puzzles & watching TV. She read the News Press everyday up until the last several months.
Once she moved into the nursing home, she started playing Bingo again & would win a lot. She gave her winnings to her great-grandson, Quinn. Turns out, she thought she would have to pay to play Bingo at assisted living.
When I visited, we would play Rummikub. We started when she was in assisted living & continued until she went into the hospital in October. She played to win & only needed a little help towards the end. She kept a running total of our scores & wins.
This Christmas, Facebook Memories kept coming up of us making nutbread over the years. She made nutbread every Christmas as far back as I can remember. Our Christmas mornings were all about nutbread, coffee & Santa presents.
She also made her stuffing every Thanksgiving & Christmas – I remember taste testing it for her as she mixed it up in a black & white speckled roasting pan. There is nothing better than the smell of onions sautéing in butter the night before Thanksgiving & Christmas.
She kept meticulous detailed records going back years – some in notebooks, some on index cards, some on scraps of paper – of all sorts of things. She had at least one notebook filled with a list of all the books she read, by author. After she retired, she started collecting & reading books about our local history.
I tracked down one book on E-Bay that she wanted by Frog Smith – he used to write a column for the News Press & lived up the street from us on Hubbard when we were growing up.
She was not afraid to learn new things & although she never got 100% comfortable with the computer, she did e-mail me every day at work to let me know she was ok.
She was a great Mom, I had a great childhood and she always set an excellent example. She taught me how to sew & cook. I don’t remember ever hearing her say a single swear word (Dad took care of that). And 1 drink would make her tipsy – I think a Tom Collins was the last drink I remember her having & that was on our trip back from a wedding in Alabama at the airport years ago.
She definitely lived a long & full life & she will be missed.
Sending heartfelt hugs to Diane and her family on the passing of her mom. I’ve always said Anna was a “warrior”. She led her life full of joy and happiness. I always smile when thinking of her playing Rummikub with Diane. She loved the game. She played up until the last several months of her life. I remember at her last couple of birthday parties she was having the best time playing the game with others at the party. Who does this at 103? She was a warrior for sure. She’s now having fun frolicking with the angels. RIP Anna.
