Dr. Kazys A. Sukys

Dr. Kazimieras Antanas "Kazys" or "Kaz" Sukys, 89, of Kankakee, died Saturday (April 14, 2012) at Provena St. Mary's Hospital, Kankakee. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, April 20, at the Clancy-Gernon Funeral Home in Bourbonnais. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday at Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis Lithuanian Catholic Mission in Lemont. Father Antanas Saulaitis will celebrate the Mass. Before Mass, a visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the mission. Burial will be in St. Casimir Lithuanian Cemetery, Chicago. He was born March 3, 1923, in Melduciai, Lithuania, the son of Juozas Sukys and Agota Mikalajunaite. Growing up on a farm, he graduated from nearby Utenos Gimnazia. Excelling at his studies, he enrolled in the medical school of Vilnius University, attending from 1942 to 1944 while the area was in the midst of war. As war made his studies impossible, he and his sister, Elena, fled Lithuania on horseback. With harrowing stops along the way and seeing the bombing of Dresden, he and his sister made it to the American battle lines and eventually settled in Munich, Germany. While in Munich, he restarted his medical school studies in 1946 and in 1949 graduated from the medical school of Ludwig Maximilian University. On March 18, 1949, he married Genevieve Domeikaite, of Lithuania, who had also fled during the war with her father, Juozas, brother, Pijus and surviving sister, Janina, of Lemont. Genevieve Sukys died in Kankakee Aug. 27, 1998. Genevieve Sukys' uncle, Antanas Domeika, a pharmacist in Rochester, N.Y., sponsored the young couple's immigration to America, and they lived above his pharmacy. Dr. Sukys was an intern and resident in internal medicine at Rochester General Hospital from 1950 to 1952. From 1953 to 1954, he was a resident physician in Iola Tuberculosis Sanitarium. From 1955 to 1958, he took the position of director of tuberculosis control at Manteno State Hospital. In 1958, he entered into a private practice in Bradley until 2004. During that time he raised three children, Irene, Dona and Raymond; enjoyed weekly visits to Chicago; played chess; and played regular tennis matches in Cobb Park. He loved the Kankakee area for its farmland and very much appreciated the thick loamy soil that the county is blessed with. Dr. Sukys and his deceased wife, Genevieve, are survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Irene Z. and Donald A. McGovern, of Los Altos, Calif., and Dona K. and Jeffrey E. Browne, of Oldsmar, Fla.; one son and daughter-in-law, Raymond P. and Amy J. (Powell), of Orinda, Calif.; one sister, Dr. Elena Deckys, of Indian Head Park; and eight grandchildren. His eight grandchildren are, Kristina McGovern Tenenbaum, of New York, N.Y., Genevieve McGovern, of San Francisco, Calif., Nicholas Browne, of Raleigh, N.C., Alexandra Browne Sweeney, of Denver, Colo., Jordan Browne, of New York, N.Y., Cameron Browne, of Gainesville, Fla., Benjamin Sukys, of Seattle, Wash., and Alexander Sukys, of Orinda, Calif. Deceased are brothers, Juozas, Jonas, Antanas and Balys; and sisters, Ona and Zose. He married Dalia Lapinskaite of Panevezys, Lithuania, on Dec. 29, 1999. Dalia Sukys is mother to daughter Sandra Peleckis, who is married to Tadas Peleckis, of Lockport, and daughter, Ineta Indrasiute-Sukys. The family cared for him with dedication through the end.

Dr. Kazys A. Sukys

March 3, 1923 - April 14, 2012