Opal May Strausser

Opal May Strausser, age 91, of Bloomsburg, passed away on Friday, December 29, 2023 at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. Opal was a resident of Bloomsburg and had been recently rehabilitating for several weeks at Nottingham Village in Northumberland.

Opal was born in Bloomsburg on June 1, 1932, the daughter of the late Joseph and Lenna (Labour) Strausser. She graduated in 1950 from Bloomsburg High School.

Her first job was a candy girl at the Capitol Theatre in Bloomsburg, and by 1953 she had been promoted to assistant manager of the theater. From 1955 to 1962, she was employed at Roselon Yarns in Danville. Opal’s primary career path was in medical services – retiring in 2011 following 45 years of employment at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.

Opal was a life-long member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Bloomsburg where she was active in the church choir, the acclaimed bi-centennial choir, as an usher and greeter, and in various church programs. She was a staunch patriot and member of the American Legion Auxiliary, having a father who was a combat soldier in WWI and mother who trained as an Army nurse, three brothers who served in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific in WWII, and a nephew who was a Vietnam veteran. 

She often reminisced about her early years growing up on Fourth Street in Bloomsburg where she and her siblings played with the “ole neighborhood gang” – staying out late on summer nights and sled-riding on Wood Street in the winter. She was a sports fand league bowler, although her passion was watching football. She was a regular at Friday Night Lights high school games and would travel weekly to watch her favorite teams.

Opal played pinochle and other card games with her family throughout her life and to the near present played in senior card clubs with “the girls”.

Opal was preceded in death by her three brothers and sister: Edwin, Robert, Joseph Jr. (Bart), and Beverly (Strausser) Eveland. Although Opal had no children, she has had a large and loving family of five nieces and five nephews, many grand nieces and nephews, and many more great grand “kids” as she called them – all who lovingly call her Aunt Opal.

Opal was unique – a caring friend to many and a matriarch to her family. She had an incomparable personality.

She will be missed.

Funeral services will be on Friday, January 19, 2024 at 1 p.m. in the Dean W. Kriner Inc. Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 325 Market St., Bloomsburg, with her friend Eileen Chapman officiating. Interment will follow in New Rosemont Cemetery, Espy. Friends may call on Thursday January 18 from 5-7 p.m. or on Friday from 12-1 p.m. ­­­

Memorial contributions in Opal’s name can be made to Wounded Warrior Project at (877) 832-6997.

Condolence messages and photographs may be posted at: www.krinerfuneralhomes.com