Mammoth resident devoted life to helping others

When Mary Mizikar was young, she watched her mother care for her ailing grandmother.

The experience inspired Mizikar to spend her life looking after others.

Eventually it would be her turn to care for her mother, as well as her husband and a friend with diabetes.

“She was absolutely saintly,” said her daughter, Anita Brak.

Mary Ann (Polcha) Mizikar of Mammoth, died Tuesday. She was 75.

She was born to the late Walter and Mary Kissell Polcha.

Her Catholic faith was central to her life. She prayed the rosary several times a day and collected hundreds of angel statues.

“Every aspect of her life revolved around her faith,” Brak said.

She once seriously considered becoming a nun, but God had other plans, said her priest, the Rev. John Sedlak of St. Florian Parish.

“She put her faith into action in terms of gifts of mercy, and true kindness, and helping other people,” Sedlak said.

In her free time she crocheted prayer cloths that she distributed at church.

When Mrs. Mizikar could no longer regularly attend Mass, she’d find videos of Masses on her iPad and watch several a day.

Her favorite thing was spending time with her family, especially her five granddaughters.

Mrs. Mizikar taught her son Matthew Mizikar to make a traditional Czechoslovakian Christmas dinner. He and his wife cooked for the family over Christmas, when Mrs. Mizikar was no longer able.

“She was the type of person who would always do something for somebody else,” Matthew Mizikar said.

She filled journals with life advice and spiritual guidance for her children.

In one of the journals, she wrote that care-taking was her mission in life.

Whatever she did, she was content.

“Everything was right with the world with her,” her daughter said. “The simplest things would make her happy.”

She was preceded in death by her husband, William M. Mizikar.

She is survived by her children, Anita Brak and her husband Michael, and Matthew Mizikar and his wife Mandee; and five grandaughters.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Saturday in St. Florian Roman Catholic Church, and Mrs. Mizikar was laid to rest in St. Florian Cemetery.

Memorial contributions can be made to St. Florian Catholic Church, P.O. Box 186, United, PA 15689, or St. Anne Home, 685 Angela Drive, Greensburg, PA, 15601.

Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jacob at 724-836-6646, jtierney@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Soolseem.