Paul W.T. Warnagiris

Paul W.T. Warnagiris died on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013, at Lynn Care Rehabilitation Center in Front Royal, Va. He was 84 years old.

Mr. Warnagiris was born in Wyoming, a son of the late Witty and Frances Waiksnis Warnagiris. He was a graduate of Wyoming High School, where he was a member of the football and basketball teams.

A 1953 graduate of Wilkes College, he was also a member of the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of technical sergeant, serving from 1947 to 1949 and also serving in Korea.

He served as president of St. Casimir's Church choir and commander of the American Legion, Wyoming.

Paul was an employee of IBM in Endicott, N.Y., and of Sears in Kingston. In 1969, Warnagiris and his wife, the former Christina Dobilas, established, published and edited the Wyoming Valley Observer, owned by Wyoming Observer Inc. The Observer, under Warnagiris' leadership, also established a series of weekly shoppers in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties called The Neighbors.

In Monroe County, Warnagiris published the Pocono Today shopper and the weekly Monroe County Sunday Herald. He and John Rygiel published "The Great Flood of 1972," which was printed by Warnagiris' printing company, Cro Woods, Wyoming.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Patricia and Joann Warnagiris; four brothers, Sylvester, Carl, William J. and Robert; sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert (Ruth Vitek) Warnagiris.

Warnagiris is survived, in addition to his wife, by seven children and their spouses, Mr. and Mrs. (nee Kelly Murphy) Paul David Warnagiris, Winchester, Va.; Mr. and Mrs. (nee Frances McMullen) John Warnagiris, Stroudsburg; Mr. and Mrs. (nee Tammy Schall) George Warnagiris, Pittsburgh; William A. Warnagiris, Stroudsburg; Mr. and Mrs. (nee Sandy Shivitz) Joseph Warnagiris, Pittsburgh; Mr. and Mrs. (nee Dr. Chrissy Warnagiris) Allen Machielson, Huntington, Ind.; Maj. Christopher J. Warnagiris, U.S. Marine Corps, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; eight grandchildren, Kimberly, Paul Donald, Mary, Joseph, Abigail and Jacob Warnagiris and Elizabeth and Thomas Machielson. Paul is also survived by sisters-in-law, Mrs. Sylvester (Mary Ann Bulger) Warnagiris, Kingston; Mrs. Vincent (Regina Dobilas) Poplawski, Dupont; and Mrs. George (Marcella Dobilas), Dupont; and brother-in-law, George Dobilas, Huntington Beach, Calif.

Friends may call 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Kizis-Lokuta Funeral Home, 134 Church St., Pittston. A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in St. John Evangelist Church Community, the former St. Casimir's Parish, William Street, Pittston. Interment will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Duryea.