Wheeling remembers Abruscato's lifelong spirit of service
Former Wheeling Village President Judy Abruscato showed concern for her adopted hometown for decades, and the community reciprocated Wednesday as its onetime leader was remembered during her funeral at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church for her decades of public service.
"I was holding it together until I saw the police department, fire department and public works department lined up with their vehicles outside," Abruscato's son, Tony, told the assembled crowd.
In introducing his remarks, Tony Abruscato invoked a favorite phrase of his mother's, which in her case had always been employed with playful irony - "As unaccustomed to public speaking as I am ..."
Humor was always a characteristic of the family, even taking the edge off last year's news that his 84-year-old mother's cancer was spreading, Tony said. The former mayor's husband, Mario, died in 2013, and the family shared in the joke that he would have had at least five years of peace and quiet before Judy was at his side again.
Both Tony and St. Joseph the Worker Pastor Jerzy Gawlik cited Abruscato's experience of being orphaned as a young child and raised by her grandmother, with ample support from the Salvation Army, as the basis for her lifelong dedication to service.
Abruscato served the village of Wheeling for nearly 30 years, including 22 as a village trustee and four as village president. Among her old meeting agendas, Tony found a quote from Lewis Carroll she'd written down to invoke there - "One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others."
Gawlik said that even though Judy Abruscato was not Catholic herself, she was a dedicated member of St. Joseph the Worker. She always accompanied her husband - a member of the Knights of Columbus - to Friday fish frys to meet with and support other parishioners, even though she didn't like fish.
"Judy is the best non-Catholic parishioner St. Joseph the Worker ever had," Gawlik said with a smile.
Jon Kolssak, owner of Kolssak Funeral Home in the village, suggested that attendees make it a New Year's resolution to serve others as Abruscato did.
Even as her life was nearing its end before her death Friday, she showed no concern for herself but only those she'd be leaving behind, Tony Abruscato said.
One of the questions his mother often asked him and his sister, Valerie, was what they'd do when she was no longer around.
"Well, Mom, that day is here, and I'm not quite sure," he said.