Obituary for Helen M Holliday
Helen Holliday
CANFIELD - A funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 14, for Helen Holliday, widow of Andrew E. Holliday, who was for many years Chief Editorial Writer for the YoungstownVindicator.
Mrs. Holliday, born Helen Mohnacki in Campbell, passed away peacefully in the upstate New York nursing home, where she had been living near one of her daughters. She had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease since 2001.
As a child, Helen from the age of five served as English interpreter for her Ruthenian immigrant parents, Michael and Mary Mohnacki, who later ran a grocery store on Youngstown’s East Side. At six, her family took her back with them to the old country for three years. On returning to the U.S., her struggle to regain her English skills left her with a lifelong passion for education, a trait which greatly benefited her three children.
She met Andy Holliday, another child of Ruthenians, at a church picnic, and married him in 1955. Both Helen and Andy were the first in their families to earn college degrees. After graduating from East High School in 1943, Helen attended Ohio State University on a scholarship and received her B.S. in Bacteriology cira 1947. She especially treasured her membership in the Kappa Delta Sorority. Before her marriage, she worked as a bacteriologist in a hospital lab, and later as a research librarian at Youngstown’s Main Library.
She settled with Andy in Boardman, where she was active in the garden club. She began teaching her first child to read at age two. All three of her children, coached by Helen, excelled in academics.
The family moved to Canfield in 1968 and joined St. Michael’s, where she eventually became an enthusiastic student of Scripture. She developed keen interests in homeopathy and alternative medicine long before these became popular and delighted in travel.
An only child herself, she is survived by her three children, Andrea Holliday of Chicago, Jeffrey Holliday of Athens, Ohio, and Kathy Rowland of Schenectady, N.Y.; a grandson, Kevin, 9, in New York; and two sons-in-law, Thomas Wikman and Larry Rowland.
Calling hours will be at St. Michael’s, 281 Glenview Drive in Canfield, from 9 to 10 a.m. on Sept. 14, followed by a Mass and interment will be at Green Haven Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan, 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601. Write “research” on the memo line of your check.
Condolences and memories may be emailed to HelenHolliday1925@gmail.com.