Helen Kolesar Hornicak, age 102, of Herman, formerly of Pittsburgh, passed away Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at her residence with loved ones beside her.

Born in Pittsburgh, she was a daughter of the late John J. and Elizabeth Monyak Kolesar.

A devout Catholic, she was active at Saint Benedict the Abbot Roman Catholic Church, McMurray, Pa. She also belonged to AARP.

Helen was raised in the Southside of Pittsburgh. Always the protector, she was just 13 years old when she came across a group making fun of a boy five years her senior. They had stolen his shoes and she told them to leave the boy alone. That is the story of how she met her best friend and the love of her life, John, though they weren't married until January, 1942, just after John enlisted to join the war.

Education was very important to Helen and she was very proud that she not only was advanced a grade but also was the only person in her family at the time to have finished all of high school, which was a rarity for women then. She made sure both her daughters valued their education and went on to graduate college.

Helen was the ultimate homemaker and took great pride in keeping her house and yard tidy. She was very self-sufficient and would regularly take pride in learning how to fix things. Even into her 80's she would rake her own leaves and climb onto the roof of her two-story house to clean the gutters (to the protest of her family). She took great pride in her plants, both inside and out.

Being a homemaker didn't stop her from stepping out of the house when needed, especially when the railroad would be approaching a strike. She had a number of different vocations over the years. One of her first jobs was at a dairy bar when she was 18. During World War II she was a supervisor at Western Electric. She also was employed at the University of Pittsburgh in the Cathedral of Learning for a time.

Coming from a Hungarian-Slovak household she spent many of her younger nights with her husband dancing at the Kollar Club. Helen loved music and would go to big band dances, and she even saw Frank Sinatra perform on stage.

Helen loved dogs but especially her dogs Jojo, Bootsie, and, of course, Patrick.

She had a penchant for cooking and made stuffed cabbage so good couples would seek her out to make it for their weddings. Her specialties were her potato pancakes and the best nutroll anyone could find.

Helen played a major role in the lives of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her favorite activity was to spoil them with treats and her homemade delicacies. Her home was always open to them when they needed a place to go. At Grandma's two things were always certain: you were going to end up with ice cream in front of you (whether you wanted it or not), and the candy dishes would be full of chocolates "…for the kids."  Whether she was teaching her granddaughter how to drive in the cemetery (saying that her grandfather just "rolled over" when she would drive past his grave) or picking up the great-grandkids from football practice, she was always there.

Helen was absolutely timeless and for many years she would get mistaken for being 10-20 years younger. More than once doctors thought they had the wrong charts when they would see her in the office. She lived in her own home until she was 90 years old when she moved in with her loving daughter and her family.

From her stories of growing up and living through the decades, to the sly grin and wink she would give when she thought she was tricking someone, to her insisting she wasn't feeding her lunch to the dog while he's walking around with ham on his head, she always kept things interesting right up to the end.

Her home was always open to everyone. She did not ask; she did not judge. She was there. She was Mom, and she was Grandma.

Helen is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Seward and her husband, Blake, of Evans, Georgia, and Cynthia Kramer and her husband, James, of Herman; one sister, Elaine DePolo and her companion Dennis, of Ohio; three grandchildren, Alissa Kowal, Jennifer Groton and her husband Mike, and James W. Kramer; five great-grandchildren, Christopher Logan and his wife, Missy, Jonathan Seward and his wife, Chelsea, Anthony Kowal, Paige Groton, and Blake Groton; and a large number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, John B. Hornicak, and two brothers, John Kolesar and Jim Kolesar.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 10 a.m. from All Saints Parish, Saint Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church, 432 Center Avenue, Butler, with Reverend Jack Nanz officiating.

Burial will take place in Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Peters Township, Pa.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to the Herman Volunteer Fire Company, PO Box 87, Herman, PA 16039, in gratitude for all the fire company has done for Helen and the community.

Arrangements were entrusted to the care of Martin Funeral Home, Inc., 429 Center Avenue, Butler.

www.martinfh.net