Paula Roseanne Soyke

Soyke, Paula Roseanne (Yakimick)

age 81, died peacefully May 5, 2025 at home with her husband, Thomas, and children, Eric Soyke and Rachel Brown. Her last days were spent watching the birds and squirrels feed outside her bedroom window, as she'd wished. She is survived by sisters. Connie, Maxine, Candace, Karen, Claudia, Jill; brother, Pete; and grandchildren, Elijah Soyke, Nolan Brown, and Myla Brown. She is predeceased by her sister, Pat and her parents, Dorothy and John Yakimick.

Paula graduated from Connellsville High School (PA) in 1962, an alma mater she loved to revisit for years to come. She went on to become an RN at the School of Nursing at Pittsburgh's Shadyside Hospital in 1965, the same hospital at which she would later bear her children. She was a lifelong nurse, whether working in the downtown ER in her younger days, or later as a healer of skinned knees and master remover of splinters. Shortly after moving from Pittsburgh to Palm Harbor, FL in 1985, she returned to work as a school nurse and then in an OB/GYN office for many years. In her retirement she volunteered for hospice.

Fred Rogers said to "Look for the helpers." Paula was one of them, to both friend and stranger. She typically put other's needs above her own, and made darn sure her little free library was well stocked with books for the neighborhood children. She was a wonderful cook, avid gardener, good neighbor, voracious reader, lover of creatures, meticulous homemaker, and famous worrywart.

Paula closely followed news and politics, holding empathy for the less fortunate and helping the homeless. She loved wine, chocolate, teacups, old classmates, cats, and a freezer full of ice cream. Tom and Paula traveled often, and were saddened to end their love of cruise ships and Key West after her health began to decline. They were both members of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to World Central Kitchen.

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