Betty Jane Betts Sokolak

June 23, 2017 Last Updated: June 23, 2017 10:04 AM Death Notice

Betty Jane Betts Sokolak, 92, passed from this life Friday at 8:30 p.m. in Sharon Regional Health Care System Hospital, Sharon, following a brief illness.

Betty was a resident of St. John XXIII Home in Hermitage for a short time and, before that, resided in Farrell.

Betty was born in Newton Falls, Ohio, on Dec. 5, 1924, to Andrew A. and Mary Tobasco Stefanak Sr. She attended St. Ann’s School and graduated from Farrell High School in 1942.

During the war, she worked for the Selective Service System (draft board). After the war, she worked at the Farrell city building in the city clerk’s office.

On Sept. 13, 1947, she married Paul B. Sokolak in St. Ann’s Church, Farrell, where she was a member until its closing in 2008.

She then joined Our Lady of Fatima-St. Ann Church. Her favorite pastimes were tending to her flower garden and working jigsaw puzzles.

Betty Jane is survived by two daughters, Susan and husband, John, Beschler of State College and Questa, N.M., and Jeanne and her husband, Joe, Lorenc of Philadelphia; and two sons, Thomas and wife, Debbie, of West Middlesex, Pa., and Paul and his wife, Mae Jean, of Chicora. She also is survived by a sister, Helen Louise David, and her husband, David of West Middlesex, Pa., and two sisters-in-law, Eleanor Stefanak of Hermitage and Louise Stefanak of Pulaski, Pa.

Betty also is survived by her devoted grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews who will miss her very much. Watching the many children in her family was a great joy to her.

Preceding her in death was her beloved husband, Paul (her “chum”), who died on July 23, 1995.

She also is preceded in death by a sister, Mary Ann Mihalcak; and five brothers, Philip, Ted, Andrew, Norbert “Buck” and Matthew Stefanak.

SOKOLAK — Friends of Betty Jane Betts Sokolak, who died Friday, May 19, 2017, may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the A.E. Pustinger Funeral Home, 1310 Idaho St., Farrell.

A brief prayer service will take place 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the funeral home followed by a funeral Mass at 1 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima-St. Ann Church, 601 Roemer Blvd., Farrell, with the Rev. Matthew J. Ruyechan, pastor, as celebrant.

Burial to follow in St. Ann’s Cemetery, Hermitage. Tributes in her memory may be made to St. John XXIII Home, 2250 Shenango Valley Freeway, Hermitage, PA 16148.