Month: September 2021

Dolores Mary Floryshak, a longtime Glen Lyon and Nanticoke resident, passed away Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in Lehigh Valley Hospice, Allentown. Dolores was born in Glen Lyon 93 years ago, the daughter of Michael and Mary Rutkowski Boynoski.

Dolores was a 1945 graduate of Newport Twp. High School. She was a distinguished seamstress, having been professionally trained in New York City. She was employed by the Leslie Fay Dress Company in Glen Lyon for 28 years. She would often be found in her sewing room among the bolts of fabric, spools of thread and hundreds of patterns, creating custom-made clothing for herself and family.

After retiring, she generously volunteered her time to many civic and social organizations: Pi Beta Gamma as a past president, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union on the retiree counsel, the Mercy Hospital Auxiliary, Nanticoke and she was a longtime volunteer with John Heinz Rehab Center in Wilkes-Barre.

Dolores married Walter F. Floryshak on Nov. 15, 1947. He was the love of her life and favorite dance partner. They could be found swirling around the dance floor or dancing cheek to cheek in the kitchen. Being around her family brought her the most joy. Traveling to visit relatives and hosting family get-togethers, especially during the holidays, were the most meaningful to her.

In addition to her parents, Dolores was predeceased by her husband, Walter in 2008.

She is survived by her sons, Michael, Vincent and Daniel; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in St. Faustina Kowalska Parish, 520 S. Hanover St., Nanticoke. Family and friends may call from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday at George A. Strish Inc. Funeral Home, 211 W. Main St., Glen Lyon. Interment following the Mass will be in St. John the Baptist Cemetery, Glen Lyon. In…

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Dancers at the Nanticoke Indian Powwow sport traditional regalia. The 2021 edition of the powwow moved to Hudson Fields near Milton.

Coastal Point | Susan Canfora

As he encouraged those attending this year’s powwow to join dancers from the Nanticoke and other tribes for the Round Dance, emcee Keith Colston promised, “If you come in with a smile, you’ll leave with a smile.”

“Talk to the person next to you. Don’t give up any Social Security numbers, but the rest of that information is good to go,” he said with a smile as he sat on a platform, microphone in hand, explaining that the Round Dance symbolizes unification, and urging even the tentative attending the Nanticoke Indian Tribe’s 44th Annual Powwow to hold hands with others and step to the beat of the drum.

“Come on into the circle. Take advantage of this opportunity. You’ve been sitting in those bleachers and chairs. Please take advantage of this beautiful day, good-looking people all around you,” Colston said.

Later, at the event at Hudson Fields near Milton — a new location for the powwow this year — he introduced dancers who displayed their talent by using multiple hoops, first laying them on the ground then picking them up with their feet, ducking under them, dancing through them and making them into spheres.

“This is one of the most difficult dances done,” Colston said, complimenting the men’s agility.

Drummers and singers provided music, and dancers moved in celebration of their heritage at the powwow, where the types of dance demonstrated included fancy, straight and jingle. This year, the beat came from drum groups Red Blanket of New Jersey and Stoney Creek of North Carolina, both nationally known Native American drum groups.

After being canceled last year due to the coronavirus, the…

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NANTICOKE — Pauline Bailey still waits for her daughter’s remains to be found so she can have her properly interred ad she can visit the gravesite to hopefully find some closure to the nightmare that began in February 2004.

Bailey’s daughter, Phylicia Thomas, was 22 when she went missing — her mother and family and friends believed she was murdered at a party in Hunlock Township. Her remains have never been found and the case remains unsolved.

On Thursday, Phylicia’s family and friends planted a silver maple tree across the street from Bailey’s Loomis Street home. Two benches will sit on either side of the tree, giving Bailey and her family a place to go and pray and reflect on the last 17 and a half years in hope of a break in the case.

“All I want is for Phylicia to be found so I can bury her,” Bailey said. “I just wish somebody would come forward to tell us where she is so we can go and find her and bring her home.”

Bailey said she has heard nothing new in the 17-year-old case, but she remains hopeful that her daughter’s remains will be found and those responsible will be brought to justice.

Judy Lorah Fisher, a friend of Bailey’s who has taken a major role in trying to locate Phylicia, said the sugar maple tree area will provide a place where they can put flowers and sit on the bench next to the tree and celebrate Phylicia’s life.

“Phylicia used to go run in a field and hug a tree and she loved nature,” Fisher said. “She would stay in a field for hours looking for four leaf clover‘s and say everything was alive.

Fisher said the Phylicia’s sister,…

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