Waneta H. Long

Waneta was born in St. Marys,Ohio,the only child of Anna Neuman Hirchfeld and Harry Wm. Hirschfeld.

She graduated from Lima South High School (Lima Ohio) in 1940 and attended Ohio Northern University
as well as LaSalle Business School. Her first main job was at Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio
calculating costs of the many components required to assemble the massive locomotives. There she met her
first husband, John Patrick Haley, father of her children They later moved to Dallas and divorced in 1951.

With two children to raise on her own, in an age where women could still not own real estate unless they
were widows, Mom and her mother (who was a widow ) combined assets to buy a small house in Oak Cliff.

Mom worked for the Schoelkopf Company in their big warehouse near the Greyhound Bus Station and
moonlighted at the huge Sears store (now South Side on Lamar Lofts) Her mother took care of the house
and kids, prepared the meals and together they kept everything afloat. Our grandmother took us to the fair
every year, to the downtown movies every week, and on each trip we brought home something for Mom - she
probably had the biggest collection of 1950's costume jewelry anywhere. And she always loved everything we
brought home for her. In 1955 she married William F. Long, a special man selected just for her by her
children. His family expanded our horizons - summer visits to cousins to explore creek beds and build "forts"
in the countryside near Forestburg and daddy's sister, Aunt Aulene, who cooked wonderful meals, made
everyone feel so very special and became the sister Mom always wanted. There were also summer weeks spent
on a working farm (with cows) in East Texas with Daddy's uncles and aunts just down the road from his
mother who made the best biscuits in East Texas. Mom and Daddy were supportive parents instilling in us
the idea that we could become whatever we aspired to with enough work on our part. Daddy guided our
schooling and pushed us to and through college with persistence we will always value. We lost our wonderful
grandmother in 1963 and Daddy in 1969. Mom and Aunt Aulene, both widows now, took painting lesson
together - having a great time and turning out some very nice paintings along with some good traveling tales.
Mom enjoyed dancing in her younger days and started attending Arthur Murray classes, later trading
ballroom for square dancing where she met Cliff Lovik who she married in 1981. She retired from Lone Star
Institutional Grocers after 20+ years and Mom and Cliff moved to Silver Lake between Mineola and Grand
Saline to make all kinds of wood crafts and enjoy country living with their menagerie of adopted dogs and
cats. Mom became proficient on saws and many other machines. and would work into the evening painting
the toys, shelves, flowers and unique items they made. Their spare time was devoted to garage sales where
Cliff could always find something to use /need and different ways to combine things to create something
useful. Cliff died in 2001 and Mom moved back to Dallas - looking around she found a nice independent
living facility nearby "her kids" where she stayed for a while and then found another one she really enjoyed. It
became less fun with each move to a higher level of care but she was gracious, uncomplaining, and made new
friends - a real lady focusing more on others than herself

Please join us for a celebration of our Mom's life: visitation on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 from 6:30 to 8:30
at Eastgate Funeral Home - please call for best directions as the service roads are under construction.
Burial will be at a later date at DFW National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers please consider asking a local assisted living or skilled nursing facility how you can
contribute to their resident's quality of life programs or donate to WoundedWarriorProject.org