June “Junie” Octavia (Gaviorno) Oakes, 87, of Charlton, passed peacefully on May 2, 2019. Born in Pittsfield, MA, she was the daughter of Alexander and Wilhelmina (Martin) Gaviorno. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert N. Oakes in 1974.
June graduated from Pittsfield High School, Becker Junior College (Business and Journalism), the Lee Institute (Real Estate) and the Reisch World Wide College of Auctioneering. She was the office manager for Curboy’s Auto of Sturbridge for over 33 years, retiring at the age of 75.
In her own unique way June was a renaissance woman and very independent. In college she and some women in her dorm defied an order to not wear shorts outside by dressing in shorts and rolled up tee shirts. They then frolicked on the lawn. She made sure they were photographed for the record. Over the years she also wrote many critical letters to reporters and editors and to various politicians demanding they ‘right’ what she thought were wrongs. Once, when her refund was late, she wrote the IRS asking if it had “run out of money” and received an apology.
She became a real estate agent and an auctioneer. For years she and Lyman Hall of Dudley, MA operated Hall & Oakes Auctions conducting estate and weekly hometown auctions in “the red barn” in Dudley.
She raced pigeons - becoming a Champion flyer in the former Worcester Homing Pigeon Club. Her secret, she said, was to talk to each bird, encouraging them to fly home quickly. She was the ‘Pigeon Whisperer’. Once an International pigeon buyer came from Taiwan to buy one of her champion pigeons.
She had many hobbies: playing piano; jitterbug dancing; fishing; gardening; bird watching. She had an incredible doll house collection, a full village, which she painstakingly built, sided, roofed and fully furnished from scratch.
June was known for her compassion, endless generosity, devotion to family, her ice cream addiction and the love of all things which made her smile and giggle.
She is survived by her children Kim A. Oakes, Michael R. Oakes, Bob Oakes and his wife Martha, her grandchildren: Steven, Carolyn, David, Elizabeth and Emma, her great grandchildren: David, Dennis, Lily and Michael, her sisters: Dolores Gaylord, Marilyn Scolforo and Donna Nicholson, and her brothers: Peter Gaviorno and Richard Gaviorno. She was predeceased by her siblings Gloria Messer, Glenda Kern and Alexander Gaviorno Jr.
She deeply loved all of her family and her family deeply loved and will miss her.
Calling hours will be on Saturday, May 25th at 1-2pm with a Memorial Service at 2pm at the Robert J. Miller- Charlton Funeral Home 175 Old Worcester Road followed by burial at West Ridge Cemetery in Charlton.
In lieu of flowers, donations in June’s memory may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
To leave a message of condolence please visit RJMillerfunerals.net