Obituary Stories category, Page 36
Sutersville man passed on baseball career for college education
David Dubinsky wanted to go to college so badly, he said no to the Baltimore Orioles. Scouts from the major league team were at a high school baseball game Mr. Dubinsky was playing in. They were there to scout the opposing team, but Mr. Dubinsky had hit a home run...
Greensburg man was mine sweeper in Korean War, serious historian back home
As an Army combat engineer in Korea, Donald Baker once was sweeping for mines when he heard an explosion behind him. He and his men realized they had walked over a live mine but had missed it. Despite that close call, the combat engineers of the 1st Cavalry Division, Dog...
North Huntingdon nurse made lasting impression on hospital staff, patients
Generations of staff and patients at Forbes Hospital came to know the kindness and caring of nurse Joan Saversky — a regard she also showed for others when she wasn’t on duty. “There was a certain loving care she gave to us kids and to all the patients she saw...
Greensburg husband, wife died 5 days apart, remembered as ‘classic American couple’
Howard and Frances Loflin were the “classic American couple,” according to daughter Stephanie Mulligan. “All of our friends tell me that my parents showed them what true love and marriage was like when they grew up in homes that didn’t have love,” Mulligan said. Meeting in kindergarten in Oberlin, Ohio,...
Greensburg man loved cycling, Scottish heritage
David Hamilton and some of his closest friends were avid cyclists, and when they found out the Regional Trail Corp. was planning to bring part of the Great Allegheny Passage through his hometown of Van Meter in Fayette County they sprang into action. “They called themselves ‘The Over the Hill...
Scottdale woman broke down barriers, loved people
Patricia Walker did not know she was opening doors for future generations when she stepped foot on a train that would take her to San Antonio, Texas, in 1950. The then 17-year-old made a decision about her life — rather than follow in the footsteps of a lot of young...
Mt. Pleasant fixture owned service station, founded ambulance service
Jack Caruso Jr. is fairly certain that almost everyone in Mt. Pleasant knew his father, Jack Sr. “He was a figurehead in Mt. Pleasant forever,” he said. “You could ask anyone in town and they’d have their own little story about my dad.” As the owner of a longtime service...
Penn-Trafford teacher, coach, inspired young athletes
Pat Cortazzo flipped a coin with another teacher to decide who would coach the Trafford High School football team and who would coach basketball. Cortazzo, who loved football and was a quarterback at Geneva College, “lost” and accepted the basketball position, according to his son, Sam. It turned out to...
Hannastown man grew up in Italy before opening Latrobe barber shop
Shirley DaRold joked her father was older than sliced bread. Except it’s not really a joke: the first commercial loaf of sliced bread was sold in Missouri in 1928. By that time, Luigi “Fast Louie” DaRold was already 3 years old and had moved from Murrysville’s White Valley neighborhood across...
Greensburg woman’s spiritual mission: ‘Kindness and love for everyone’
Joyce McCauley may not have been missionary material at the beginning, but that didn’t deter her from following a calling that would take her life in a radically different direction. The mother, wife and businesswoman decided to enter the foreign mission field with her husband, Don, in the early 1990s....
Scottdale man remembered for time in fire service
John Leroy Chain knew he was carrying on a tradition when he joined the Scottdale Volunteer Fire Department. But what he didn’t know, was that it was a tradition that would carry on to his son and grandson. “His grandfather and people before him were firefighters, so it’s been generations,”...
Longtime McKeesport Daily News sports editor covered kids, pros
For more than three decades, Norman Vargo wrote about everything from high school volleyball to Super Bowls. He was there to chronicle the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty in the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series title in 1979 and the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup runs in the early 1990s. As the...
Latrobe outdoorsman blazed new trails
When Kevin Seremet went into the woods, he went as far off the beaten path as he could go. “He always said he wanted to step on land that no other man had ever stepped on before,” said his brother, Kenneth Seremet. Kevin Seremet was always happiest outside. He gardened,...
Unity man had zest for life, traveled Europe
Dwight Sarson’s graduation trip was an adventure to remember. He and his friend hitchhiked across Europe in 1972, traveling to Italy, Sweden, France, England and Germany, said his wife, Dana Santone Sarson. “They had a grand time,” traveling and living on bread and wine to save money, she said. “That...
‘Beloved by thousands,’ William Penn doorman made people feel special
Jon-Paul Malezi, doorman at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh for 25 years, had a way of making people feel special, and they loved him for that. If a guest showed up in a rain storm, Malezi was out in the street with an umbrella to make sure...
Greensburg woman remembered for passion of cooking
The smell of Sylvia Fontanella’s beef risotto recipe often wafted through her Greensburg home, a signature meal of hers. Cooking and baking for her family was a favorite past time of hers, her great-niece Lisa Fox said, along with trying to spend as much time with the children in the...
Latrobe woman remembered for love of people
Joan McGuire loved to be around people, especially her son, David Sichula. “My mother and I had a very close relationship,” Sichula said. “She was my best friend, and I was her best friend.” The duo spent a lot of time together, with Sichula taking her to visit London and...
Active West Newton retiree had passion for Croatian roots
Michaelene Nohavicka was full of life, and the life she lived was a full one. “Even at 70, she was still going like crazy,” said her daughter, Beth Lengvarsky. Retirement, following a series of careers, found Mrs. Nohavicka still a dynamo of energy. A driving force at the former Yukon...
West Newton woman enjoyed faith, food and home-making
There was always something good in the oven at Catherine Lash’s home. The mouth-watering scent of raspberry pie or one of her cakes filled her West Newton kitchen on a daily basis. Visitors knew they’d be treated to fresh baked goods and coffee when they visited, said her son, Richard...
Former FBI agent, Derry teacher remembered
As a young man, Michael G. Christoff was an FBI special agent in Pensacola, Fla., and Mobile, Ala. The former South Greensburg and Unity resident had risen from being a personal secretary to one of the FBI assistant directors during the reign of legendary Director J. Edgar Hoover to a...
Greensburg man loved to host picnics, was life of the party
Roy Hoyle never missed a chance to throw a party or host a picnic. Traveling with a cooler packed with drinks and snacks, Hoyle would take advantage of sporting events, scenic overlooks and Sunday afternoons at “the lot,” a piece of land with a cement pad and large weeping willow...
Greensburg man loved basketball, family
Carl Davis Sr. was feisty when he was coaching basketball. Spending 13 years coaching at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and 12 at Jeannette High School, Davis had a knack for the sport, leading his teams on to national championships. Davis was eventually inducted into the into the Indiana County Sports...
Teacher shared love of art wherever she went
Constance “Connie” Vaskov brought her passion for art wherever she went. “She just loved to make every place she went look a little bit more beautiful,” said her daughter, Victoria Sheridan. “She couldn’t help herself.” Mrs. Vaskov would make ceramics and other artsy gifts for her friends. She’d help decorate...
North Huntingdon woman saw Pittsburgh’s transformation from `Smoky City’
Lois June Drexler grew up on Mt. Washington in the 1930s and 1940s, when Pittsburgh was known as the “Smoky City.” The steel mills were belching out smoke on both sides of the Monongahela River — the South Side and Hazelwood — and homes like the one young Lois Bressler...
Scottdale chiropractor dedicated to his profession
An early encounter with chiropractic medicine is what planted the seed that would become a lifelong career for Dr. Ralph Geary. As a boy, he had a medical problem doctors said could not be corrected — until he was taken to a chiropractor, said Betty Jean Geary, his wife of...
