Humphreys woman loved working with 4-H
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Sandy L. Lucas Ruggiero became involved in 4-H many years ago when her daughter wanted to raise rabbits.
Although she grew up in Pittsburgh, not out in the country, Mrs. Ruggiero took to helping Jamie raise rabbits and served as a 4-H leader for many years, said her daughter, Jamie Biller of Unity.
“Mom became a leader. She was rabbit superintendent at the Westmoreland Fair for many years,” said her daughter, Jamie Biller of Unity.
Patty Klingensmith remembered Mrs. Ruggiero as a wonderful person.
”She did not care if you were a good kid or a bad kid. She still took you under her wing,” said Klingensmith of Boquet, whose children raised rabbits under Mrs. Ruggiero’s guidance.
Mrs. Ruggeirio, 73, of Humphreys, Unity , died Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at her home.
She was born Sept. 7, 1946, in Cleveland, the daughter of the late James and Merna Alborts Lucas.
After graduating from Schenley High School in Oakland, she went to the former Slippery Rock College, where she earned a degree in education. She then earned her master’s degree in education at the University of Pittsburgh.
She taught special education for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Biller said. It was while she was a teacher that she met her future husband, Dennis W. Ruggiero, who also was a teacher for the intermediate unit.
They moved to Murrysville, where Biller said she grew up. When Biller later moved to Unity and had her own children, sons Jaden and Jesse, Mrs. Ruggiero became active in the Baggaley Elementary School PTO where her grandsons attended school. She volunteered so much at her grandchildren’s school that she became known as “Grandma Sandy,” Biller said. Part of the volunteering that she loved was the book sales.
She took on the job of altering the marching band uniforms for Greater Latrobe High School, Biller said. “Those kids grew and there was a lot of hemming to do.”
Mrs. Ruggiero was a breast cancer survivor and volunteered for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Latrobe. She would take scraps of cloth and sew them into bags, which were given to the participants, Biller said. In her honor, she probably will continue her mother’s tradition of sewing the bags next year.
She was a member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Latrobe.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Dennis W. Ruggiero; two brothers, and a son-in-law, Jeffery Biller.
In addition to Jamie Biller and her companion Craig Heide; she is survived by two grandsons; three stepchildren, Tammy (Bob) Taylor, David (Peggy) Ruggiero and James (Karen) Ruggiero; and four nephews.
Funeral arrangements were handled by the Jay A. Hoffer Funeral Home in Norvelt. Memorial contributions in her memory may be made to Latrobe chapter of the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, where she also volunteered.
Biller said she would love people to honor her mother by performing “a random act of kindness because that was so much my mom.”