Madison woman loved family, cooking
Mary Yannacci loved her family and loved watching them play sports and the other activities in which they were involved, said her daughter, Valerie Dean.
“I don’t think she ever missed a sports game or a play that they were in,” Dean said. “She was all about her family.”
Mary Lou Vertacnik Yannacci of Madison died Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019, at Allegheny Health Network Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. She was 74.
She was born Nov. 7, 1944, in West Newton, the daughter of the late Bart and Pauline Kamarchik Vertacnik.
After graduating from South Huntingdon High School in 1962, she began working at Westinghouse Electric Corp.’s Waltz Mill plant.
It was there that she met her future husband, James “Zip” Yannacci, Dean said. They were married for 46 years until he died in 2015.
She also worked a variety of jobs, including in the bakery at a Shop ’n Save supermarket in North Huntingdon, Dean said. She loved to bake, making brownies and cakes.
Dean said her mother loved to cook for the holidays, particularly Thanksgiving and Easter.
“She was always the turkey cooker,” Dean said.
Mrs. Yannacci loved to put together 1,000-piece puzzles with her sister, Janine Vertacnik.
“They had the patience for it,” Dean said.
She enjoyed watching movies and would have loved seeing the new film “Downton Abbey,” Dean said.
Mrs. Yannacci enjoyed going to the casino at The Meadows in Washington County with her brother, Melvin Vertacnik, and her sister, Janine Vertacnik.
She was a member of Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Yukon.
In addition to her daughter Valerie Dean of Irwin, she is survived by three grandchildren, Melanie, Matthew and Marissa Dean; sister, Janine Vertacnik of Yukon; and brothers Melvin Vertacnik of Mt. Pleasant and Bart Vertacnik of Albuquerque, N.M.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Beatty-Rich Funeral Home Inc., Route 136, Madison. A blessing service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, with the Rev. Dan Carr officiating. Interment will follow at West Newton Cemetery.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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