Irene Burnice Pakonen Bliss Dolecek

Irene Burnice Pakonen Bliss Dolecek, 96, of Logan, Utah, passed away in her sleep Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. Graveside services will be held on Thursday, Oct. 28, at Logan City Cemetery, 11:30 a.m.
The youngest child of Jacob Toivo Pakonen and Mary Amamda Kitti, she was born Dec. 30, 1913, in Virginia, Minn. Her nickname was Babe. Like Babe Ruth she also had a love of baseball. She played on the Minneapolis City Championship team. As a youth she danced and performed acrobatics in vaudeville. She enjoyed many sports and bowled on many teams in Glendale, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., until nearly 91 years old. She learned to golf after she retired at 65 from Lockheed Aircraft Corp. in Burbank, Calif.
At Lockheed Irene worked her way up from a typing pool to being one of the secretaries to the chairman of the board.
Irene married Daniel Merritt Bliss on Aug. 28, 1938, in Glendale, Calif. In Glendale, they raised a son Arthur Toivo Bliss now of Clearwater, Fla., and Janis Lorna Morris of Logan, Utah. She enjoyed the ritual work of many Masonic organizations and was a Worthy Matron of Glen Eyrie Eastern Star and also served as a leader of other groups.
The Bliss family was all baptized into the LDS Church in 1961, most in the Glendale West Ward. Arthur was in the Army and was baptized in Louisiana.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters Sylvia Baggaley and Viola Savage and husbands Daniel Bliss and Alfred Dolecek. Irene is survived by her two children Arthur Bliss (Waty) of Clearwater, Fla., and Janis Morris (Ray) of Logan, Utah, 13 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
The family is very grateful to the Senior Center and Meals on Wheels for the last four years of service and Alpine Hospice in the last few weeks of Irene's life. Thank you to the Ninth Ward Relief Society who will prepare lunch after the service on Thursday. Allen Mortuary, North Logan, will direct the services.