SHENANDOAH — The memory of his wife’s passing was still fresh when Dr. Peter Skirmantas went to Lithuania in July to accept a medal for her role in establishing the Lithuanian Heritage Museum.
Anne Chaikowsky LaVoie Skirmantas died in March, four months before the Lithuanian government formally recognized her efforts.
A rush of emotion flowed through Skirmantas as Kestutis Budrys, Lithuania’s foreign minister, presented him with the “Merits of Lithuanians Worldwide Award.”
“I was trying not to weep,” confided Skirmantas, 75, a retired history professor. “I wished Anne had lived to get the award.”
The award, one of the highest given to people in the Lithuanian diaspora, came three months after Archbishop Lionginas Virbilas visited the heritage museum in Shenandoah, officially designated “Little Lithuania” by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Based in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city, Virbilas ministers to Lithuanians worldwide.
The archbishop spent a good deal of time in the museum, taking photos and chatting with members of the Knights of Lithuania and the Schuylkill County Lithuanian Women’s Club.
Virbilas was not certain, but he thought his grandfather might have worked in Schuylkill County’s coal mines.
The Lithuanian government presented its Merit for Lithuanians Worldwide medal to the Lithuanian Heritage Museum in Shenandoah in July. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cultural heritage
The Knights of Lithuania Anthracite Council 144 sponsored a Lithuanian museum for many years at Assumption BVM Catholic Church in Frackville.
Several years ago, Anne Skirmantas approached the council with an offer to relocate the museum to the former Chaikowsky Funeral Home in Shenandoah.
The funeral home, which was vacant, had been run by her parents, Leonard and Eleanor Chaikowsky.
Through the efforts of Peter and Anne Skirmantas, the Knights council and volunteers, including the Chicago-based Sakyns (Roots) Lithuanian group, the archive was moved to the former funeral home at 318 E. Centre St.
A repository of 150 years of Lithuanian culture in Schuylkill County, it opened in the fall of 2025.
It honored the estimated 100,000 Lithuanians who left their homeland and settled in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region between 1865 and 1915.
Lithuanian emigres brought their traditions with them, and built St. George Catholic Church in Shenandoah, the first Lithuanian Catholic church in America.
The museum preserved stained glass windows from St. George’s and Our Lady of Siluva, a former Lithuanian parish in Maizeville.
A sign bearing Lithuania’s national emblem marks the entrance to the Lithuanian Heritage Museum on Centre Street in Shenandoah. (AISHWARYA BEHL/STAFF PHOTO)
A stained‑glass panel from St. George’s Lithuanian Catholic Church in Shenandoah, once the first and largest permanent Lithuanian parish in the United States, is displayed at the Lithuanian Heritage Museum. (AISHWARYA BEHL/STAFF PHOTO)
A display highlights the Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai, Lithuania, a 19th‑century site of mourning that grew into a symbol of hope and national identity. (AISHWARYA BEHL/STAFF PHOTO)
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A sign bearing Lithuania’s national emblem marks the entrance to the Lithuanian Heritage Museum on Centre Street in Shenandoah. (AISHWARYA BEHL/STAFF PHOTO)
On display are woven tapestry, wood carvings, religious artifacts and family photos from five or so generations. There’s also a library of books in Lithuanian and English.
A unique feature is a scale model of the Hill of Crosses, a shrine of more than 200,000 crosses and crucifixes in Lithuania. Testament to the nation’s faith, 100,000 worshippers turned out when Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at the shrine in 1993.
Anne served as curator of the museum for only eight months before her death, but she left an indelible mark on it.
“She breathed new life into the museum,” Peter said. “She was very passionate about it.”
Teacher, author, advocate
Holder of a degree in theater production from Syracuse University, Anne Skirmantas taught at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
She served as a stage and production manager for authors and Hollywood personalities, including Shenandoah native Darryl Ponicsan, an author and screenwriter.
She wrote two books for Arcadia Press’ Images of America Series. “Shenandoah” was written for the town’s sesquicentennial. “Lithuanians of Schuylkill County” featured an extensive photo archive of the town.
The late Anne Chaikowsky LaVoie Skirmantas was curator of the Lithuanian Heritage Museum in Shenandoah. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
In an effort to save it from the wrecking ball, she produced a DVD on St. George’s church. After it was razed in 2010, she co-authored “St. George Church: A Photographic Remembrance.”
With Peter, to whom she was married for nine years, she made frequent trips to Lithuania.
After receiving the medal, which Minister Budrys referred to as “Anne’s Award,” Peter revisited some of their favorite places in Vilnius.
In a park, he saw a jogger wearing a shirt with the slogan “Everything’s going to be all right” on it. Those were the words Anne kept telling him when she was in hospice at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem.
“Was it a coincidence or a message from her?” Peter asked. “I prefer to think of it as a message.”