Anna Cherskov, worked at Pike Place Market for 50 years, dies at 92

Strong and proud, Croatian immigrant Anna Cherskov sold deli meats to Pike Place Market shoppers for a half-century, raising two daughters as a widow while never losing her sense of humor.

Mrs. Cherskov, 92, died in her sleep Friday at her house in West Seattle, which she treasured as deeply as she did her Slavic roots and her place of work.

She worked at the Market from 1942 to 1992, staffing the sales counter of Milwaukee Sausage Co. and, later, Pure Food Shop.

"Anna knew everyone at the Market, and everyone at the Market knew Anna," said Louise Niemi, of West Seattle, a Croatian community member who first met Mrs. Cherskov in 1942.

Niemi asked Mrs. Cherskov a couple of weeks ago how she withstood all those cold winters at the Market.

"She told me she wore five sweaters under her uniform [a white butcher's coat]," Niemi said. "She said that people would see her in the spring and tell her she had lost so much weight. She'd smile and tell them: 'No, I just lost five sweaters.' "

Mrs. Cherskov was featured in an October 1982 article in Zajednicar, the newspaper of the Croatian Fraternal Union of USA. She was a member of Lodge 439, Seattle, for nearly 60 years.

The article said Mrs. Cherskov began working at the Market to help pay for a house that she and her husband, Benedikt, had bought. Her previous job had been washing, sorting and packing vegetables at a cannery for 17 cents an hour.

"What a difference," Mrs. Cherskov said in the article. "Most of us spoke Croatian in the vegetable plant, so I had no problems there. But I had to face the public and speak English for Milwaukee.

"I was scared to death, but it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me."

Mrs. Cherskov walked straight and tall, her hair pulled back in a bun. When not at work, she dressed impeccably in vivid, coordinated colors.

Born Ana Jureskin in the Croatian village of Kastel Gomilica, she and Benedikt came to America in 1932, staying briefly in Chicago before settling in Seattle. Her husband died in 1948, leaving her to raise daughters Albina and Mary as a single mother.

Dino Josie, Mary's son, said his grandmother's work ethic "came from the old country. Her family ran a cement-mixing business and you had to be a sturdy type of person to do that kind of work."

Mrs. Cherskov loved entertaining friends and family at her house and in her yard, which she tended with great care. She grew flowers — her roses are particularly fragrant right now — and vegetables, including tomatoes, fava beans and Swiss chard. She always grew enough to share with friends, Niemi said.

Mrs. Cherskov also enjoyed sitting in the backyard beneath the shade of an old walnut tree.

"Walnuts are part of the baking tradition of Croatians," Niemi said. And Mrs. Cherskov knew how to bake, particularly apple strudel served warm, golden brown and delicious.

Josie said he used to watch his grandmother roll dough on a cloth-covered table sprinkled with flour. "The dough was rolled so thin, you could read a newspaper through it."

"No one ever went hungry at grandma's house," said Josie, a teacher at John F. Kennedy High School.

As she never learned to drive, Mrs. Cherskov usually took the bus to and from the Market and also walked to places in West Seattle, including up the hill to Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Until recently, she regularly climbed the 39 steps leading to her house instead of using the easier entrance off an alley, Niemi said.

Mrs. Cherskov also was a longtime member of the American Slavic Women's Club.

Josie said he thinks he has figured out why his grandmother and Pike Place Market were such a good match for 50 years.

"My grandma's parties at her house were loud and raucous and full of laughter. There was always something going on, good food, lots of jokes. When I go down to the Market, I realize it's just like one of my grandmother's parties. It's a happy place to be."

Mrs. Cherskov was preceded in death by husband Benedikt, and daughters Albina Dahl and Mary Josie. She is survived by four grandchildren, Leo Harrod, of Clayton, Calif.; Sherry Bradshaw, of Mannford, Okla.; Lisa Branson, of Burien, and Dino Josie, of Burien; seven great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.

Rosary will be at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Bonney-Watson, 900 S.W. 146th St., Burien. Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 4139 42nd Ave. S.W., Seattle. Memorials may be made to Holy Rosary or Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle.