Sheldon Lane Gusky

COAL TOWNSHIP - Sheldon Lane Gusky, 86, of Coal Township, went to be with his Lord and savior Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

He was born, May 7, 1938. Sheldon was raised in Coal Township by his parents, Evelyn and Walter Gusky.

After military service in his early adulthood, Sheldon worked as a civil servant in the Harrisburg area until his retirement. Then he began the work for which he was created - working the kiddie rides at Knoebels Grove, in Elysburg.

A highly devout Christian, Sheldon put his creative talents in service to the Lord at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, in Shamokin. His writings included sermons, poems and even plays that inspired and entertained his fellow congregants.

To his many devoted nieces and nephews and their children, Uncle Sheldon was famously frugal with his financial resources (To wit, asking for a cup of hot water at restaurants and then pulling a teabag brought from home from his chest pocket) and infinitely generous with his punster sense of humor and physical comedy. He took us hiking and exploring, inventing hilarious scenarios that he filmed us enacting.

For a long period, Friday evenings were reserved for family visits where Uncle Sheldon sat for hours and played games of his own invention with us. He strummed our toes to tickle us and gave us pointer finger "needles" in the collarbone to make us giggle in delight. He loved burnt cookies, never turned down leftovers, developed a passion for Chinese tea and treated himself to Weis potato chips and ice cream as he watched late-night movies from his youth on TV.

We all knew not to call before 11 a.m. and never on a Sunday or Wednesday evening when he would be in church. We began to suspect that later in life he came to visit us mainly as an excuse to play with and cuddle our various cats and dogs, for his pockets were always full of bits of fluff for the felines and biscuits for our pups. This love of animals was a family trait that he shared with sisters, Betty and Velvet.

His older sister, Betty Hubler, her daughter, Cindy, and his younger sister, Velvet Vincenzes, were waiting to welcome him to heaven.

GUSKY - Sheldon Lane Gusky, 86, of Coal Township. Sheldon's earthly send-off will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, Second and Arch streets, Shamokin, with Pastor Rudy Sheptock officiating. Interment will follow in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Coal Township. A viewing will be held at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of service Tuesday. Joseph J. Stutz Inc. Funeral Home, 40 S. Market St., Mount Carmel, Joseph J. Stutz III, supervisor, has been entrusted with arrangements. To offer condolences to Sheldon's family, go to www.stutzfuneralhome.com.