Eileen Betleski, 92, Active in Church Groups

She was born on the corner of 33rd & 3rd in New York City on November 9, 1918 and was raised in a loving extended family of Curran aunts and uncles and Curran and McCarthy grandmothers.

As a young girl she was responsible for the care of her two younger sisters, Pat and Catherine ("Babe"), while her parents were at work at the New York Athletic Club. She always considered herself fortunate to be able to spend summers at the beautiful home of her Aunt Kitty and Uncle Clinton Burns in Brewster, New York-an ideal retreat for a young girl with a vivid imagination.

After graduation from George Washington High School in NYC, she was employed at B. Altman department store in the City and at the Erwin Wasey advertising agency, where she enjoyed camaraderie with a fantastic group of young office workers and advertising executives, including weekends on the North Shore of Long Island in a Gatsby-like setting with clam-digging and beach picnics.

She met her husband of 63 years at an Officers' Club event where Adrian asked to be seated with a tall blonde he had spied across the room, but the Club hostess insisted he would enjoy meeting a brunette named Eileen and the rest of the story is their legacy of married life together. They married in 1946 and moved to Ohio to take advantage of the GI Bill with studies at The Ohio State University. After Adrian's graduation, they moved to Cuyahoga Falls and then Lorain to begin family life, raising five children on East Erie Avenue.

Eileen's life as a wife and mother gave her great joy, participating in every school event from Cub Scout Den mother to Christmas play costume-maker. She iced a million cupcakes and drove a million miles for school, sports, camp, and music events in her children's lives.

Travel with the kids (and sometimes with Grandma Betleski) was an annual summer event; she made countless sandwiches in the middle seat of the family Oldsmobile station wagon during the month-long trip to and from Anchorage, Alaska in 1965, juggling mayonnaise and bologna out of the big silver cooler and yelling for everyone to roll up the windows as the car passed another vehicle on the unpaved AlCan Highway and grit blew through the vents to flavor the sandwiches.

Eileen and Adrian shared political life, a tremendous and constant faith in God, and a sense that their many blessings had to be shared. Their circles of friends included deep commitments to the Cursillo movement, St. Vincent de Paul Society, St. Anthony Parish Paduan Travelers, Marian Guild, PTU, Boy Scouts, the Amherst teachers' bridge club, the Serra Club, the Ohio Lakefront Group and the Lorain Chapter of The Ancient Order of Hibernians, of which she was a founding member.

Eileen was preceded in death by her husband, the Honorable Adrian F. Betleski, her parents James Hugh Curran and Marie Curran Wagner, her brother Kenneth and sister Patricia Curran Eliseo.

She is survived by her sister, Catherine Maguire, and her children, Clinton, Rosanne and husband Greg Berton, Adrian and wife Diane, Philip, and Mark and wife Suzanne. She is also survived by grandchildren Eleanor and Kieran Berton; Adrian Daniel, Joseph and Brandi, Theresa and Rob Trimble, and step-grand-daughter Lisa McCarthy; Amber and Josh Klimek, Falyn Betleski, and Crystal Rose Betleski; as well as great-grandchildren Orion and Onyx Klimek and Seven Elizaveta Betleski.

Funeral arrangements have been made by Gluvna-Shimo-Hromada Funeral Chapel, 3224 Broadway Ave, Lorain with wake observance in the afternoon of Thursday, July 7, 2:00-4:00 p.m. and evening hours of 6:00-8:00 p.m. A final blessing will be held at the close of evening hours. Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, July 8, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church (please meet at church) with Fr. Richard Hudak presiding, with burial at Ridge Hill Memorial Park in Amherst Township immediately following. Lunch will be served following burial at St. Anthony Social Hall.

Charitable contributions for Eileen can be made to either of her favorite charities: March of Dimes at www.marchofdimes.com or the St. Vincent de Paul Society, 1305 E. Erie Ave., Lorain, OH. 44052. Online condolences can be made at www.gluvna.net.

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. May the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.