Austra Anna Pinkis

Austra Anna Pinkis died in Bloomington, Indiana, on Wednesday, October 11, at the IU Health Hospice House. She was born on August 26, 1920, in Baldone, Latvia. The events of World War II compelled her flee her homeland and took her to Germany, together with her parents and infant daughter. She was among the thousands of others cared for in the United Nations refugee camps set up after the war. In late winter 1949, the family arrived in the U.S. under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. They were sponsored by the Lutheran Church in Shelby, North Carolina, which provided housing and jobs. Although she had finished a degree in the modern technology of the telephone and telegraph in Latvia, in Shelby, North Carolina, she worked in the soda fountain at the local drug store before convincing the A&P grocery store to hire her as a butcher at a higher wage. After moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1952, she continued to work for the A&P as a butcher but was promoted to bookkeeper after completing a comptometer course. After retiring at 59, she and her second husband, Emils Pinkis, joined her daughter and family to farm 93 acres north of Bloomington. Having grown up on a farm in Latvia, she easily took to milking a Jersey cow, making butter and cottage cheese from the milk, tending to livestock, and putting up hay. Her farmstead was down the road from her two grandchildren and became their favorite destination. They filled her life with joy. She was an active member of the Indianapolis Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Latvian Community Center. Talented at handicraft, she joined others at the Senior Center in Bloomington to weave rugs and volunteered for more than fifteen years at the Bloomington Hospital. In 1991, after Latvia regained its independence, she returned many times, most recently in 2016, to visit her many relatives. She is survived by her brother, Janis Plavenieks in Riga, Latvia, daughter Inta Gale Carpenter of Bloomington, two grandchildren (Alexander Ian Carpenter of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Eleanor Aimee Carpenter of Tacoma, Washington), four great-grandchildren (Izabella, Gabriel, Soren, and James). She was preceded in death by her first husband, Alfreds Gale of Jelgava, Latvia, and her second husband, Emils Pinkis. Funeral Services will be at 11 a.m., Tuesday, October 17, at Flanner & Buchanan Floral Park in Indianapolis. Burial will follow at Floral Park Cemetery, Indianapolis. Memorial contributions may be made to the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Indianapolis, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church of Bloomington, or the Indiana University Health Hospice House. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory 4155 South Old State Road 37, Bloomington is assisting with the arrangements and online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com.

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Austra Anna Pinkis

August 26, 1920 - October 11, 2017