Pauline Schiavone

Pauline Atkinson Schiavone of Oxford and Monticello passed away peacefully in her home in Oxford January 20 at 3:10 PM. She was exactly 88-1/2 years old and succumbed to lung and heart problems.
Pauline was born July 20, 1920 daughter of Pearl Ruth Christman Atkinson and Earl Newton Atkinson. The depression era, farm life, and her loving and industrious parents molded her early years on the Cephas Atkinson farmstead south of Oxford. Pauline was a 1938 graduate of Oxford High School and a 1941 graduate of Lafayette Home Hospital School of Nursing. In 1943 she married Leonard John Schiavone in Santa Maria, California, and during WW2 she returned to Oxford while her husband was overseas. She was later divorced and began a 47 year career in nursing. She was honored by Home Hospital for 40 years of service. She also worked at White County Hospital. She had a great respect for education and maintained her nursing licenses in Indiana and California, participating in continuing education until her death. She was a 1964 graduate of Indiana University with a B.S. degree in nursing, and she donated her body for research to I.U. School of Medicine.
Pauline had a great zest for life, traveling extensively to international destinations and following current events, sports and politics closely. She enjoyed the out-of doors, camping in the national parks, hiking and her Lake Freeman property. She lived to see President Obama's inauguration and the end of the Bush era, one of her remaining desires. She was a member of the Benton County Historical Society, White County Farm Bureau, AA, League of Women Voters, AARP and her beloved Home Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, and a former member of the First Prresbyterian Church, Monticello. She was not afraid to stand alone when necessary to preserve her principles, and it can be said, "She did it her way". Pauline leaves a legacy of working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation to restore the woods on her farm that was threatened by conversion to pastureland. Pauline dearly loved her children. She leaves a loving daughter, Gwen Schiavone Erwood (husband- James) of Placerville California, two grandchildren, Bradley James Erwood of Hermosa Beach, California, and Kelly Lynn Enright (husband - Tim) of Chicago and three great grandchildren, Claire, Sophia and Ethan Enright. A sister, Kathleen Shafer and a brother, Donald Atkinson, preceded her in death. A Celebration of Life and internment of her remains at the family plot in Justus cemetery will follow at a later date. HAHN-GROEBER FUNERAL HOME, Oxford, is assisting the family. www.hahngroeberfuneralhome.com