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They are the busiest “retired” people in the community.
Richard andSharonPokerwinski have been chosen by the
Sumpter Township Parks and Recreation Commission as the
official Honorary Citizens for the 2017 Sumpter Country Fest
in recognition of the extraordinary involvement of the couple
in their community.
The couple, who marked their 50th wedding anniversary
at a renewal of their vows last year, has lived their entiremar-
ried life at their Karr Road home. Richard Pokerwinski is a
life-long Sumpter Township resident and a 1964 graduate of
BellevilleHigh School. He was honored by the school district
as one of the Van Buren School District Distinguished gradu-
ates.
Sharon Pokerwinski is a 1966 graduate of Roosevelt High
School inWyandotte, where shewas born and raised.
The couple met on a blind date, Pokerwinski said, in 1965
and were married July 16 the next year, just weeks after
Sharon’s high school graduation in May. Richard
Pokerwinski's parents, Raymond and Mary, who had moved
to Sumpter from Detroit in 1935, gave the couple the Karr
Road acreage as awedding present.
The young couple built their home on the property where
they still reside and where they raised their two grown chil-
dren, “who are the center of our lives,” Sharon Pokerwinski
said.
Their son Richard (Rick) and his wife, Jessica, live in
Phoenix, AZ and their daughter, Amy, and her husband, Greg
DeClercq, have two children, Bailey, 13 and Preston, 5. The
family resides close by inMilan.
Richard Pokerwinski's first job was working on Howard
Gretes' farm on Wear Road in Sumpter. Then he went to
work for Ford Motor Co. where he was a UAW Local 845
union representative for 35 years and also served on the
Emergency Response Team at the Sheldon Road Plant. He
served as the Employee Support Service Program represen-
tative for 25 years before his retirement in August of 2005
aftermore than 41 years at FordMotor Co.
His wife retired from the Michigan Institute of Aviation
and Technology (MIAT) in February of 2013. She also served
as the secretary of the Michigan Festival and Events organi-
zation for nearly seven years.
The couple, long-time members of St. Anthony Catholic
Church, have been involved in the Belleville and Sumpter
Honored citizens
Commission recognizes couple’s
decades of volunteer service
See
Citizens,
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Richard and Sharon Pokerwinski
