Slaven, John Pearl

Passed: 1975-05-28

Age: 84

Source: Ravenswood News

Death Notice:

Obituary Date: 1975-06-03

Information: FUNERAL SERVIC ES WERE HELD SATURDAY FOR PEARL J. SLAVEN - Half a century merchant J. Pearl Slaven, age 84, died Wednesday in Jackson General Hospital.  Slaven, founder and former owner of Slaven Store, 213 Washington St., continued to work in the shoe department until just a short time before his death, although the store had earlier been sold to Carl Roush.      Born in 1891 at Cuba, Jackson County, which no longer exists, Slaven attended Marshall College, Huntington (now Marshall University), and Sheldon School of Business in Area, Ill.  For a time he taught school in the one-room school at Cuba, which he attended.  Following his schooling, he first worked for Armour Co. of Huntington as a clerk.  Later, he was employed by the Colonial Insurance Co. and then as a drummer salesman traveling for the Watts-Ritter Co. for 13 years, selling dry goods, notions and furnishings.      Slaven first opened his store on the corner of Washington and Walnut Street, which now houses Gino's Pizza and Spaghetti House.  In 1925, he built the present store which he remodeled in 1960.  In an interview in 1966, Slaven told a NEWS representative that he remembered Ravenswood when there were only two or three Model T Fords in town and the rest of the vehicles of transportation were carriages.      He was a son of the late Frank and Ginnie Starkey Slaven, and was a former director of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Ravenswood.  Slaven held membership in the United Methodist Church in Ravenswood and was a member of Ashton Lodge No. 12 AF & AM, Lions Club and the Ravenswood Retail Merchants Association.  Surviving are one daughter, Janet Noll of Ravenswood; one son, Jerrold Woodrow Slaven, also of Ravenswood; one brother, Hoyt Glenn Slaven of Ripley; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  Funeral services were held Saturday at 2:30 p.m.  at Chambers Funeral Home, Ravenswood.  Burial with Masonic rites followed in the Ravenswood Cemetery.