Mary M. (Jura) Tutak

Mary M. Tutak, 99, of West Deer Township, passed from this life on Sunday, October 27, 2024 in Allegheny General Hospital with her daughter at her side, just two days’ shy of her 100th birthday.  Mary was born October 29, 1924 to the late Michael and Maryja (Szaflarski) Jura. She was a resident of West Deer her entire life.

In addition to helping on the family farm, Mary briefly worked as a receptionist for a small medical practice in West Deer. Shortly after World War II began, she became a proud “Rosie the Riveter,” and was employed in the shell manufacturing unit at the New Kensington Alcoa factory, working on both the assembly line and driving a forklift. In 1943, Mary was introduced to a young serviceman who came to her family home in uniform with his uncle to purchase farm supplies. Sparks flew, the two were married in 1946, and they remained together until her husband’s death in 1996. In addition to perfecting baking and cooking skills, Mary was an excellent gardener who loved growing vegetables and flowers. She also had a deep love of her Polish heritage, and enjoyed reading, listening to the music, and learning the folklore and traditions of the Gorale community of her ancestral home in the Tatra Mountain region of that country. She was a member of Our Lady of the Lakes parish, where she was for a time active in the Rosary Society, also a member of the Polish National Alliance, Russellton. When her husband retired, the two could often be found delivering food parcels for the Meals on Wheels program.

Besides her parents, Mary was preceded in death by her beloved husband John, her sisters Alice (Stanley) Bazyk, Anna (John) Yanko; and brothers John, Frank (Dorothy), Walter, and Stanley (Doris) Jura.

Survivors include her daughter Joan of Gibsonia, niece Jodie Shaffer of Pinellas Park, Florida, numerous great-nieces and nephews, and beloved friends and “family of the heart,” especially Ilene Kurfeerst, Emily Riehl, and Ed Labuda and the Labuda clan of Chicago.

A special thanks is extended on Mary’s behalf to all the wonderful nurses of AHN Home Health and Highmark ECCM, especially Shavon Haidze and Karen Beckwith, who never failed to go above and beyond to provide both quality care as well as deep kindness.

Friends will be received Friday from 10 – 11:30 am in the SIWICKI-YANNICKO FUNERAL HOME, 23 McKrell Road, Russellton, West Deer Twp. where parting prayers will be conducted Friday 11:30am with a funeral maas following in Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, Transfiguration Church, Russellton. She will be laid to rest next to her husband in Our Lady of Hope Cemetery, Frazer Township, View the obituary and leave condolences at www.siwicki-yanickofh.com/obituary/Mary-Tutak

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