Funeral services will be held on  Friday, December 2, 2016 at 10:30am at the Vaschak-Kirila Funeral Home, Inc. and 11:00am at St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church for Mary Puskar, 91, who passed away on Tuesday, November 29th.
Mary was born June 12, 1925 in Michalovce, Czechoslovakia (Slovakia) daughter of George and Elizabeth Menky. Mary married John Puskar July 15th, 1944 in Slovakia. John emigrated to the USA in 1949 and Mary followed with their two daughters, Mary and Linda in 1956. Her husband, John, died in 1992 from MS and Mary was his caregiver for many years.
Mary Leaves three children, Mary (Mike) Novak of Austintown and their three sons, Michael Novak Jr., Colonel John (Stacey) Novak of Virginia and their Three children, Patrick (Fiance Heather) and Caitlin and Steven (Tina) and their son Ryan. Her son Robert (Lisa) Novak of Virginia and their six children, Robert Jr. (Andrea) of California, Dustin (Kayla) and their Sons, Dustin and DJ of California and Ethan and Bailey (Fallon) and Alexis and Aylia.
Linda (Joseph) Sefchik of Austintown and step grandchildren Joseph (Nancy) Sefchik and Tammy (Loney) Gamble. She also leaves behind nine step-grandchildren and 12 step great-grandchildren.
John & Lisa (Roe) Puskar of Cleveland and their two sons, John (Kimberly) of Columbus; and Zachary Puskar.
Mary worked for 25 years for the Youngstown city schools as part of the custodial staff retiring in 1992. She belonged to the retired group SERO &SERS. After her retirement, she then catered at St. Mary's Assumption hall for 15 years. She was a devout Catholic who prayed at the rosary every day. Mary belonged to the Rosary makers group at St. Mary's and helped to make rosaries that were sent all over the world. She volunteered many hours at St. Mary's with many projects- making pirohi, stuffed cabbage sales and sewing altar boy garments. Mary was named "Mother of the Year" in 2006 at Golden Pillars group.
Mary loved to knit and was very proficient at it. She has made many outstanding afghans, quilts, scarf's and, of course, her famous knit slippers. Mary lived on the west side for over 50 years, moving to Omni West in 2013, where she participated in many activities there, including bingo.
We would like to thank Dr. Miller and Dr. Gerald Mihok for taking such good care of our mom's medical needs. Also, thank you to the staff at Omni Assisted living; Omni Manor and Hospice for the wonderful care they provided for our mom. And, of course, a special thank you to Rev. Richard Lambert and Sister Bernarda for their many visits and much spiritual guidance that they provided during the years.
Friends will be received on Friday, December 2, 2016 from 9:00am to 10:30am at the Vaschak-Kirila Funeral Home, Inc., Youngstown, Ohio

 Service Information