Leetsdale garden dedicated in memory of late original garden club member

Leetsdale Garden Club has dedicated a garden in memory of a late member.

Mary Kay Dschuhan was one of the club’s founding members back in 2006. She served as vice president and was highly involved in the borough’s Fourth of July Committee, as well as numerous other community engagements for many years.

“She would help anyone whenever she could,” said Henrietta Karetzler, longtime friend and fellow garden club member. “She was a very helping soul.”

A Leetsdale native, Dschuhan graduated from Quaker Valley School District in 1960.

She would move to California and live in the Orange County area from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s before moving back to the area.

“She was just very good at getting all of us to (come together),” said garden club president Janet Gilbert. “She was a go-getter and I really felt that. She was in many organizations and just did a lot for our town, and (we) felt she needed the recognition. I just couldn’t see her passing away and not being honored for all the things she did for the town of Leetsdale. She was a good friend to all of us.”

Dschuhan passed away Aug. 10 at age 80.

One of her favorite gardens was at the the corner of Broad and Beaver streets. It was recently named Mary Kay’s Point. It features canna and sedums with a sprinkling of daffodils and roses.

Karetzler said Dschuhan took care of that garden often, and would have loved the arrangement.

“Mary Kay was very proper,” she said. “When she set a table, it had to be perfect or we don’t set it. You don’t have a picnic when we have linens on the table. Everything was in it’s place. ‘If you don’t do it right, you don’t do it at all’ was what her motto was.”

Mayor Sandra Ford called Dschuhan a “true asset to Leetsdale” and delivered a proclamation to the club.

“During a long and productive lifetime, (Dschuhan) has demonstrated in countless ways her dedication to the welfare of others and has earned the respect and affection of people from all walks of life and all ages,” the proclamation read.

Dorothy Bohatch, 72, and her husband, Bill, plan to make the trek from northern Virginia to Leetsdale sometime this month to see the garden dedicated to her late sister.

“It was very nice, very thoughtful,” Bohatch said of her sister’s tribute. “I know she would be honored. She really enjoyed working in the garden club and the women and everything. It was so nice when we heard about them dedicating the garden to her.”

Bohatch, a 1968 Quaker Valley grad, said she looked up to her older sister and shared a lot of great memories both growing up and as adults.

“We didn’t know anything other than growing up in Leetsdale and I think we were happy,” she said. “I thought she was pretty and funny and I enjoyed being with her. She would take me shopping sometimes. The two of us would go out to eat somewhere. I always thought maybe we would have been close if not so (far apart in age).”

About 40 people attended the tribute at the garden Oct. 21. The club also hosted a luncheon in her honor.