BALCHUNAS, Amelia (Antich), 99, of Louisville, passed away Friday, April 13, 2012.
Amelia was a native of Jersey City, NJ. She was employed in the garment industry as a seamstress and later as a proof reader in commercial banking. After retiring, in 1976 she moved from Jersey City to Kentuckiana and learned to drive at the age of 65. Over the years, she resided in Clarksville, Henryville, Jeffersonville, IN and in Bardstown Junction and Jeffersontown, KY, making new friends along the way.
She was a published poet and her poetry graced a number of national books, local newspapers in Indiana and Ohio, and even the Ford Employees Newsletter. Amelia was also an accomplished creator of crocheted afghans large enough to cover a king-sized bed! Some required over a year of hand-crafted effort and won a number of prizes in the Bullitt County Fair.
Amelia enjoyed telling fortunes and reading Tarot cards. She read fortunes at the New Albany Harvest Homecoming in the 1980’s as a fund raiser for the former Provident Nursing Home where she served as a volunteer. She was a member of the Sons of Poland and Senior Citizen Groups in Shepherdsville and Jeffersontown, KY.
She was preceded in death by her husband, John Joseph Balchunas.
She is survived by her son, John A. Balchunas; grandchildren, John Michael Balchunas, Joseph Andrew Balchunas and Lisa Wright; great grandchild, Tristan Coughran and niece, Mary Ann Dorney and her daughter, Donna.
Visitation will be Friday, April 20, 2012, from 5pm until her memorial service at 8pm at Owen Funeral Home – Jeffersontown, 9318 Taylorsville Road, Jeffersontown, KY 40299.