Advertisement

A. Leslie Starke, 68, award-winning artist

 
Published Oct. 11, 1992|Updated Oct. 12, 2005

A. Leslie Starke, an award-winning painter who specialized in miniatures, died Friday (Oct. 9, 1992) at home after a long illness. She was 68.

Over the years, she won more than 60 awards and exhibited in the Mainsail Arts Festival and the former Two Centers Art Show in St. Petersburg.

Mostly self-taught, Mrs. Starke did large works in oil and watercolor until several years ago when she switched to miniatures. Her work can be found in many private collections, her family said.

She also received purchase awards from the city of Pinellas Park, which displays her work in City Hall, and the Miniature Art Society of Florida, which elected her its president in 1988-90.

The daughter of an insurance salesman, she was born in Perry County, Pa., and attended school in Pennsylvania. Seeking relief from a sinus condition, she moved to Florida in 1947, working in West Palm Beach as a bookkeeper, and came to St. Petersburg the next year.

She was a past president of the Art Guild of Treasure Island and an art teacher at Conner's Mobile Home Park, 2701 34th St. N, for 16 years. She was a member of Pasadena Community Church.

Survivors include her husband, Robert H.; a son, Robert D., Florida; a daughter, Kathleen M. Nalbach, and a grandddaughter, Jennifer Nalbach, both of St. Petersburg; two nieces, Linda Gantt-Allen and Judy Thomas; and a nephew, Jon Gantt.

Friends may call Monday at 10 a.m., an hour before services, at R. Lee Williams & Son Funeral Home, 3530 49th St. N. The Revs. Wayne S. Madden and R. Thomas Beason will officiate. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery.

The family suggested memorial contributions to the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, 300 East Bay Drive, Largo, FL 34640.