Betty A. Sekely's Obituary
Betty A. Sekely, of Monroeville, PA passed away peacefully on July 13, 2025, at the age of 82 in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by the love of her family. Betty was born on February 18, 1943, in Pittsburgh, PA, and was the youngest child of the late Delbert Cecil and Sarah Elizabeth Allen. Betty passed away on her father's birthday.
After losing her mother at age 10, she lived with her sister, Lois Thorhauer and brother-in-law Happy Thorhauer, and their boys. Betty was a graduate of Baldwin High School and went on to have a career as a bookkeeper for various companies. Throughout her life, she had various other jobs as well. She was a manager of a department store, she was a hostess at a restaurant, she helped take care of many people at a nursing home, and so much more. She was very reliable and compassionate about every job she performed. She helped her husband provide for the family to make sure they never did without. She was a wonderful mother and homemaker, always ensuring the best care for her family. Betty was always willing to help anyone in need, whether it was to lend a hand, just listen, or help financially. All you had to do was ask. She loved talking to people and sharing stories, especially with her family and grandchildren. She could strike up a conversation with anyone. She was so kind hearted and compassionate with everyone she talked to. You would have believed she knew them all her life.
Betty was a die-hard sports fan, always cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and proudly wearing her sports teams jackets out and about. She was even lucky enough to see and touch the Stanley Cup and try on the championship rings. Betty always enjoyed doing many crafts and taught herself how to do many things. She loved to sew and made many clothes for her family. She made cherished quilts, rugs, tissue boxes, Christmas stockings, decorative towels, and embroidered sweatshirts, t-shirts, and jackets for many including herself, her children, and her grandchildren. She made many afghans for her family. She loved knitting and needlepoint. She also loved to paint and do crafts with her grandchildren, from sand art, to stained glass, to Christmas decor crafts. She handmade many keepsakes for her family and friends.
She loved spending time in her swimming pool in her backyard with her family and friends, soaking up the sun and floating around on rafts. She loved being silly and "sinking" in the big blow up boat with her grandchildren. They would sing "Mr. Golden Sun", and "Rain, Rain Go Away", at the top of their lungs when the weather was bad or when big clouds were blocking her sun. She loved swimming and looking out her back door at her big blue pool, her beautiful flowers, and watching an owl sitting in her tree at night.
She enjoyed many family picnics on the back patio after a day of swimming with her family. She also enjoyed going out to dinner with everyone. She never missed the opportunity for a Cherry Pepsi float. She loved spoiling her grandchildren, especially taking them out to eat with her. She would spend hours sharing childhood stories, spooky stories, silly stories, and jokes that made them laugh uncontrollably. She loved to quote lines from movies and tv shows, laughing so hard until her stomach ached.
Betty loved the holidays and spending them with her family. She always made delicious Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners, with crowd favorites including: homemade wedding soup, her potato salad, delicious lady locks, and apricot cookies. She loved baking cookies with her family, which started in the basement of her mother-in-law's home and later with her daughters and grandchildren in her own home, as her husband and son enjoyed eating them! She loved Halloween and decorating in a scary theme, anticipating listening to the kids scream and fear her decorations when she passed out candy. For many years, she would ring in the new year with her husband and granddaughters, eating a special dinner, watching the ball drop, making loud noises with all the fun noise makers, and popping poppers- even sparking the Christmas tree on fire once. (It was funny and we always laughed about it!). She always made the holidays feel special and warm. When you walked into their home, it was filled with warmth, the smell of a delicious dinner, appetizers, yummy treats, presents galore, and decorated festively.
In her younger years, Betty and her children would stand in endless lines at the crack of dawn and sometimes even overnight to get front row seat tickets to many concerts over the years at the Civic Area and Three Rivers Stadium. She saw Elvis in concert, which was a huge highlight in her life. She and her children saw the Bee Gees, Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Wham!, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Journey, Genesis, Barry Manilow, and Paul McCartney just to name a few. She and her son would frequently go to Rivers Casino and Mountaineer Casino for a fun night out together. Betty also loved going on trips to the casino with her longtime friend, Carol. She enjoyed many vacations with family and friends going to places such as Hawaii, Atlantic City, Niagara Falls, and many places in Florida.
She would always join her family on her grandchildren's school picnic day at Kennywood Park, watching them ride all the rides, play games at the stands, and eat the yummy park food, especially the Potato Patch fries with cheese. She loved many family vacations to Disney World and Disneyland with her grandsons and girls trips to Las Vegas with her daughters and granddaughters. She was so lucky with her "itchy hand" and always knew which slot machine she could win big on. She saw many shows in Las Vegas, some of her favorites being Donny and Marie, Rod Stewart, Criss Angel, David Copperfield, and Elton John.
She married her high school sweetheart, Jim, on August 23, 1962 and would have celebrated 63 years of marriage this August. She joined him while he served in the Airforce, living in Ohio, and eventually making their way back to Pittsburgh and permanent home in Monroeville. Together, they had twin girls, and a son. Betty is survived by her husband James (Jim) Sekely; her children Judith (Mark) Sinicrope, Joanne (Paul) Warchol, and James Sekely; Granny to her beloved grandchildren: Samantha (Peter) Holman, Ericka (John) Feret, Jessica Sinicrope, Paul (III) and Joel Warchol; and GG (Great Granny) to her cherished great-grandchildren: Hazel, Vincent, Ellie, and John (V). Betty leaves behind her sister-in-law, June Allen, and many nieces and nephews whom she also adored tremendously. She was greatly loved by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and will be missed beyond measure.
Betty was preceded in death by her siblings Don (Norma) Allen, Lily (Arnold) Michler, Lois (Howard) Thorhauer, Read Allen, Merle (Jackie) Allen, and Faye (William) Kramer. Her beloved dogs Blackjack and Sonny are waiting to welcome her at Heaven's gate.
Relatives and friends are invited to join the family for visitation on Thursday, July 17, 2025, from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home, 301 Curry Hollow Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.
A funeral service will be held in the chapel at the funeral home on Friday July 18, 2025 at 12:00 pm. Interment will be handled by Jefferson Memorial Park.
Online condolences may be found at www.jeffersonmemorial.com
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