Sewickley centenarian, 1st female township supervisor helped push women’s rights
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Sixty years ago, before the push for women’s rights gained widespread support, Mary Belak Zakutney of Herminie sought the same pay for the same job as a man in her rural community.
Mrs. Zakutney was secretary-treasurer for Sewickley Township for almost 17 years, from the early 1940s to 1957, working in the kind of conditions that would be substandard in today’s society: no running water in the office by the Sewickley Township High School football field, a wood-burning stove that hardly took the chill out of the air and a “restroom” out back that was a hole in the ground, with privacy provided by a shack.
She was appointed township supervisor in 1957, becoming the first female supervisor in Sewickley Township and among the first in the state. One supervisor quit because he would not work with a woman, said her daughter, Dr. Mary Ann Zakutney of North Huntingdon. She even had the audacity to want to be paid the same as the men.
“She fought for it, and they gave it to her. She fought for equal pay for herself,” Mary Ann Zakutney said.
Mrs. Zakutney won elections in her own right and served as supervisor for 24 years, until 1981.
Mrs. Zakutney died Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, at Mary Ann Zakutney’s home. She was 101.
She was born Sept. 19, 1919, in Herminie, a daughter of the late Alexander and Anna Maroscovich Belak. She was the daughter of a coal miner, the third oldest girl in a family of 15.
Times were tough growing up in the Great Depression. She had animals to tend to at the family home, and she spent her spare time helping to raise her 14 siblings.
She learned to be a tailor and seamstress, caring for families in Squirrel Hill. During World War II, Mrs. Zakutney helped with the war effort by assembling munitions at a McKeesport plant.
In 2019, as she neared her 100th birthday, Mrs. Zakutney told the Tribune-Review she met her husband, John Zakutney, at a family event. The couple, who wed in September 1939, were married for almost 59 years, until his death in May 1998.
Mary Ann Zakutney said her mother was active at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Herminie. She was involved in all aspects of the church her entire life.
She loved to cook Slavic food — pierohi, haluski and halupki.
“She taught all of us how to do it,” Mary Ann Zakutney said.
She was the oldest survivor among her brothers and sisters.
“She really was the matriarch of the family,” Zakutney said.
For her 100th birthday, Sewickley Township supervisors honored her with Mary Belak Zakutney Day. She also was honored by the Westmoreland County commissioners and state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield. In recognition of being the township’s first female supervisor and turning 100, they declared Sept. 19, 2019, “her birthday” as Mary Zakutney Day.
Surviving are two daughters, Dr. Mary Ann Zakutney of North Huntingdon and Catherine Zakutney of Texas; a son John Paul “Butch” Zakutney of Irwin; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; a brother; and and five sisters.
Friends will be received from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Joseph W. Nickels Funeral Home, 404 Sewickley Ave., Herminie. Parastas service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in the funeral home. Panachida service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the funeral home.
A Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. Mary’s Byzantine Church, Herminie, with the Rev. Michael Huszti as celebrant. Interment will follow in Westmoreland County Memorial Park, Hempfield.
Visitors are to adhere to all the current Centers for Disease Control guidelines, including masks and social distancing, in the funeral home and in church. Funeral home occupancy will be limited to 25 people at a time. Memorial donations can be made to St. Mary’s Byzantine Church, 5 Second St., Herminie, PA 15637.