When Harmar native and O'Hara resident Lydia Klimenko Meshanko died last year at 92, she donated $4 million to education scholarships.
Springdale High School graduates who pursue college will benefit, as well as art students at Community College of Allegheny County and two Orthodox Catholic seminaries.
A spokesman for the Pittsburgh Foundation said Meshanko's $4 million donation is the largest benefitting scholarships ever made to the foundation.
“I would never have dreamed that she had that much,” said Genevieve Mauro, 86, of New Kensington, a lifelong friend of Meshanko. “She was very modest.”
Meshanko was somewhat of a mystery to many.
“She stayed a lot to herself,” said Father Paul Ziatyk, 76, of Brackenridge, a retired priest from St. John Orthodox Catholic Church in New Kensington, where she worshipped most of her life.
“She was a loner, but not a recluse,” he said.
“You would never know that she had any kind of investments,” Ziatyk said. “She drove an older car until it gave up the ghost. She had nice clothing but nothing ostentatious.”
Meshanko was the daughter of working-class Russian immigrants and grew up in Harmar's Acmetonia neighborhood. She lived in a small, ranch-style house in O'Hara that she owned with her late husband, Peter Meshanko.
By all accounts, the couple, which was childless, was not known to be millionaires.
But their life of saving will continue to payoff for area students for years to come.
“In many ways, her frugal lifestyle, combined with the passion for philanthropy that she wanted to fulfill, is symbolic of what we regard as an exceptional charitable spirit,” said John Ellis, spokesman for the Pittsburgh Foundation.
Meshanko met with the foundation shortly before her death to set up the endowments.
They will fund scholarships benefiting four educational institutions, each receiving $1 million.
Along with college-bound Springdale High School graduates and CCAC art students, also benefitting will be students attending St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and St. Tikhon Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan in Wayne County.
“Lydia wanted to create scholarships for students, like her and her husband, who aren't necessarily the smartest kids — but kids who are willing to work hard,” Ellis said.
Each fund will generate about $50,000 a year for one or more students at each institution.
Grants will start to be made from the funds next year.
“It's absolutely wonderful that she thought of the school district and that she remembered us,” said Jan Zastawniak, spokeswoman at Allegheny Valley School District.
Meshanko likely graduated around 1936 from Springdale High School, where her husband also graduated, according to Zastawniak. The district is still searching its records for information regarding Meshanko.
“Obviously, she had to put a priority on education,” she said.
The $1 million endowment to the school district is about equal to what the district gave out in total scholarships last year.
“This is the largest amount that an alumna has left to the school for scholarship purposes,” Zastawniak said.
“We have some individuals who left money and have been giving scholarships for years, but not that amount.”
Meshanko's roots
Father Ziatyk knew Meshanko and her family, the Klimenkos, for 41 years.
Meshanko's mother, Helen Klimenko, was “a very elegant woman. She was Russian and carried herself like a lady,” Ziatyk said.
Helen was widowed fairly early, according to Ziatyk.
“They worked hard,” he said. “They were a typical Alle-Kiski family. They lived modestly and humbly.
“I remember seeing Helen on a high ladder up on her roof doing some repair work — and this woman had to be in her 70s. Her mother worked very hard at the church.”
Unlike her mother, Meshanko went on to college.
She graduated with a bachelor's of arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1958 and then earned a master's of library science degree from Pitt in 1970, according to Sharon Blake, a Pitt spokeswoman.
She worked as an executive secretary for the Pennsylvania Railroad and might have also done some work as a translator, according to Mauro.
“Like her mother, she carried herself ‘just so,' ” Ziatyk said. “She was also an elegant lady.”
Devoted to her Orthodox religion, Meshanko attended church regularly and would sing in the choir.
“She was prayerful, and very sociable,” Ziatyk said. “But she spoke her mind. She was very direct.”
According to Ziatyk, who saw Meshanko in her final days, she asked about donating to the Orthodox seminaries. He suggested the institutions.
Meshanko spent most of her adult life in O'Hara, where she lived with her husband Peter, who died in 1980. He owned an automobile dealership and repair garage in Pittsburgh's Homewood section, according to Tom Powers, a local historian in Aspinwall.
‘Lifelong learner'
His mother, Bertha Oleyar Powers, who died in 2009, was friends with Meshanko for more than 60 years.
“In the 1940s, there must have been a big thing about going to local campgrounds,” Powers said. “My mother and Lydia would take a weekend and go out to a camp area and picnic for a weekend.”
Meshanko helped with some of the research for Powers' book, “Township of O'Hara, Portrait of an American Community,” published in 2008.
“She was very circumspect,” Powers said.
Powers would often see Meshanko at a computer in the Lauri Ann West Memorial Library in O'Hara.
“She was always educating herself,” he said. “She was a lifelong learner.”
According to Tracy Zihmer, of Feldstein Grinberg Lang & McKee, which worked on Meshanko's estate, the elderly woman was still taking art classes at CCAC last year.
Mauro remembered, “Lydia was very intelligent and she could speak Russian, Spanish and Italian.”
Those who knew Meshanko were baffled by her secret wealth.
“I was surprised that she was able to save that amount of money,” Powers said. “My guess was is that it's probably a combination of her and her husbands' investments. In the automobile dealership game, you can accumulate real estate and valuable property.”
And that is what likely happened, according to Charles Hadad, an attorney with Feldstein Grinberg.
“She inherited a lot of her wealth from her husband and was meticulous in managing her assets,” he said.
“It's one of those success stories that you cannot get enough of,” Hadad said. “And that is how someone can make such a huge impact with starting out with very little in her life.
“She has paid it forward — indefinitely.”
Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or mthomas@tribweb.com.
