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Obituary Stories category, Page 29

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
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...
Greensburg restaurant owner kept family as priority
Frances Monteparte lived by the motto “The family that cooks together stays together.” Mrs. Monteparte and her late husband, James, operated two restaurants in Greensburg for two decades but didn’t let it get in the way of family life, said her son, Vincent. “We spent many hours in those restaurants,...
Greensburg nurse spent almost 40 years helping deliver, caring for babies
Chances are, if you were born between 1944 and 1983 at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, Betty “Peeps” Kurtz cared for you, her daughter, Linda, said. As a nurse at the hospital for 39 years, Betty Kurtz worked mainly in the newborn nursery during the night shift, caring for...
Westmoreland photographer, ‘Mr. Kodak’ was known worldwide
Terry Deglau almost always had a camera in his hands. He was a world-renowned professional photographer, but he never really saw it as a job. “He always said photography wasn’t actually work because if you like what you do, you never work a day,” said his daughter, Sydney Ceren. Terry...
Mathematician rose to highest security levels as analyst for Pentagon
Dale Peters was a soft-spoken, quiet man. But to say the retired mathematician who rose to the highest security levels in the Pentagon as a government analyst was a man of few words would be a mistake, said his wife, Monte Schenk Peters. “He loved to read. He loved ‘Jeopardy!’...
Cokie Roberts, longtime political journalist, dies at 75
Cokie Roberts, the daughter of politicians who grew up to cover the family business in Washington for ABC News and NPR over several decades, died Tuesday in Washington of complications from breast cancer. ABC broke into network programming to announce her death and pay tribute. Roberts was the daughter of...
Trib newsman Dick Mears remembered for his creativity, problem-solving skills
Richard “Dick” Mears was always there for his friends and family, whether it was to lend a helping hand or offer a laugh. “He was always willing to help anybody at all and make a difference whether it was a co-worker, a family member, a neighbor or whoever,” said Frances...
Neighborhood children had a friend, champion in Hempfield’s ‘Nanny T.’
Jean Rae Todaro never had to think twice when she heard the ominous public service announcement: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” They were always in the downstairs rec room of her Hempfield Township home, playing pool or watching TV. “We’d have 10-12 kids downstairs every...
Football, entrepreneurship part of Murrysville man’s life
Arthur “Gene” Nance might not have made the cut for the NFL, but his jersey number was featured in the movie “We Are Marshall.” Playing for various colleges, including Buffalo University in New York, Nance eventually became a replacement player on the Marshall University football team — only a year...
Rillton’s George Matovich valued family, heritage
Two things were important to George Matovich — his grandchildren and his Serbian heritage. He began taking one granddaughter to practices, games and tournaments when she was 6 years old and continued taking her throughout her school career. “He was always on the sidelines,” said his daughter, Melissa Aird. “I’m...
Greensburg man loved all things sports
If it involved sports, chances are good that Eugene Burke of Greensburg was interested. Over the years, Burke served as an assistant athletic director at the former North Union High School, ran an undergraduate basketball tournament in the late 1960s and early ’70s, and was a PIAA referee from the...
Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens dies at age 91
OKLAHOMA CITY — T. Boone Pickens, a brash and quotable oil tycoon who grew even wealthier through corporate takeover attempts, died Wednesday. He was 91. Pickens’ spokesman Jay Rosser confirmed the death to The Associated Press. Pickens suffered a series of strokes in 2017 and was hospitalized that July after...
Tree farm was Rostraver man’s biggest love
Whether he was teaching, selling Christmas trees or going to bat for Rostraver, George Martin put his all into his work. “His biggest love was his tree farm. This year he planted 18,000 Christmas trees,” said his wife, Patty. Mr. Martin operated Martins Christmas Tree Farm in Rostraver with his...
Derry Area grad expressed Croatian roots through song, dance
Leann Muchnok Gisvold was strongly attuned to her Croatian roots, a bond she expressed in song. Following the example of her parents, the Derry Township native spent many years performing with the Tamburitzans, a Pittsburgh-based group named after a stringed folk instrument played in Croatia and neighboring Eastern European countries....
New Florence professor had a deep love of model railroads
When Merwin Weed built a train layout, he didn’t mess around — and there was no such thing as a miniature train layout. “That was always a passion for him and his brother,” Bonnie Chovanec, of Blairsville, said of her father. “They shared a bedroom, and they built a train...
Mt. Pleasant woman helped organize girls softball
As Title IX was leveling the playing field for girls in athletics, Florence DeSimone was doing her part for equality in athletics in Mt. Pleasant by helping to organize a softball league for girls in the 1970s. “She played softball, and so did her sister and her daughters,” said her...
World War II vet who trained at Saint Vincent College had to jump from plane over enemy territory
Bernard J. Harrington, a co-pilot on a World War II B-24 Liberator heavy bomber who flew 35 combat missions over Germany, Italy, the Balkans, picked a good spot to land when he and his crew had to bail out their airplane. Mr. Harrington was on his 19th mission when his...
Penn man served community as fire chief
Weslie Wiser grew up in Trafford and served his community, both in the town’s post office and the volunteer fire department, where he rose through the ranks to become chief. “I have never seen a more dedicated individual in the fire department in my time,” said his son, Dennis Wiser...
Belle Vernon woman was 1st female X-ray technician in hometown
Eula Tintori was a woman ahead of her time. Her daughter said the Traverse City, Mich., native became the first female X-ray technician in her hometown hospital when officials there realized the young woman they had hired to assist in the X-ray lab showed great promise. At the time mammography...
Indiana County native, Cold War code-breaker, dies at age 101
Angeline Nanni could have lived her life in relative peace and quiet working at her sisters’ Blairsville beauty shop. Instead, she became part of one of the most important counterintelligence programs of the Cold War. Ms. Nanni and her compatriots in the Venona Project helped decrypt thousands of coded messages...
Former VFW national commander from Robinson remembered as hero
When he became national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 2015, John A. Biedrzycki said it was time for the group to regain its relevancy. “The old-boys network and the days of the old barroom commanders have come and gone,” Biedrzycki said at the 2015 VFW convention in...
Jim Leavelle, lawman at Lee Harvey Oswald’s side, dies at 99
DALLAS — Jim Leavelle, the longtime Dallas lawman who was captured in one of history’s most iconic photographs as he escorted President John F. Kennedy’s assassin as he was fatally shot, has died. He was 99. Leavelle, distinctive in his light-colored suit and white Stetson, is seen in the photograph...
Unity mail carrier loved trains, Pirates baseball
To his wife, Jerry Gumbita of Unity was a work friend who soon became her loving husband. To his son, he was a happy-go-lucky guy willing to help out anyone. And to his school friends at Saint Vincent Prep School, he was “Speedy Gumbit-y from Marguerite-y.” “He was a fastball...
Skip Beal, retired VND and Trib newsman and voice of ‘The Stroller,’ dies at 81
Skip Beal was a passionate newsman who knew the Alle-Kiski Valley inside and out and wasn’t afraid to spark a little outrage when he wrote The Stroller column in the Valley News Dispatch. “He loved his job, there’s no doubt about it,” said his oldest son, Benjamin Beal III of...
Former Pitt dean Jere Gallagher remembered as ‘beautiful inside and out’
Jere Gallagher devoted her life to caring for others, whether it was her family, her friends or her many students. As an associate dean at University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, she spearheaded multiple initiatives to improve the lives of children and future teachers while also making sure those closest...


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