Southwest Greensburg family has 'passion' for Halloween display: collecting for St. Jude hospital

Like stores that put out Halloween decorations just after Labor Day, the Ruggieri family of Southwest Greensburg starts the elaborate and extensive decorating of their house at the corner of Mace and Guthrie streets in time for that September holiday weekend.

“Our family has a passion for this, for Halloween and all the decorations,” John Ruggieri, 44, said of himself; his wife, Suzanne; daughter Emily, 15; and son, Gabriel, 12.

“We don’t do anything that is in moderation. It’s a passion for us,” Suzanne Ruggieri said.

What makes setting up the countless pumpkins, real and artificial; hay bales; the 12-foot skeleton; a mural with a scene from “Night of the Living Dead”; a whiskey bar with skeleton customers; witches; monsters; and the tombstones with Halloween-themed names so special is that the Ruggieri family is doing it for a great cause. The family is collecting donations from visitors for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Skeletons for St. Jude’s, a nationwide fundraiser for the Memphis, Tenn.-based hospital.

The donations are being collected in memory of Ethan Milliron, the birth father of Emily Milliron Ruggieri, who died of cancer when she was about 1½ years old, John Ruggieri said. As of Saturday night, they had collected $6,482 for Skeletons for St. Jude’s from the visitors that come to see their house, Suzanne Ruggieri said. The nationwide collection of donations had topped $250,000 for St. Jude’s as of Oct. 20.

It is the third year they have collected donations for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Suzanne Ruggieri said.

“I have always felt from the beginning that Ethan is part of our family. He is part of who we are, and we will always look to help others and turn this loss into something good for others,” John Ruggieri said.

Surveying all of the decorations in the front of the house, the side and the backyard, John Ruggieri said it took the family a collective 600 hours to put everything in place. But it takes planning to put it all together.

“We started sketching ideas for the displays back in July,” Emily Ruggieri said.

“It’s 75% done by Labor Day,” John Ruggieri said.

Gabriel helps with giving tours of the decorations and helps to set up a table for carnival games, John Ruggieri said.

All of the effort is worth it, Suzanne Ruggieri said.

“It’s family- and community-oriented,” she said. “It’s our way of giving back. It helps those who are in a position that we once were.”