As a member of the Rainbow Girls — a Masonic youth service organization — a young Joyce Wennagel could be found volunteering in an animal shelter in Elizabeth Township or visiting a nursing home in McKeesport.

As an adult, Joyce Wennagel Helfrich became a founding, majority member of the East McKeesport Rainbow Girl Assembly, of which she was a past Mother Advisor.

"Every year, a Rainbow Girl is committed to charitable projects," said her daughter Amy Gida of North Versailles, who, as a teenager, was a member of her mother's assembly. "My mother grew up in a family devoted to their Presbyterian faith and Masonic Orders."

Joyce L. Wennagel Helfrich of East McKeesport, a retired supervisor for the state Office of Unemployment Compensation, died on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, in UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland. She was 76.

She was an elder and a deacon in the Linway United Presbyterian Church in North Versailles, her daughter said, where Mrs. Helfrich was admired for her fundraising for church events.

"During her years of volunteering for her church, my mother acquired numerous identifications. She was known as the Bible snack lady, who provided goodies for vacation Bible school and a beloved Sunday School teacher, whose students never forgot her," said Gida.

"My mother was also involved with the church's Tuesday Ladies Club, whose members made crafts that were sold to support the church's missions," her daughter added.

Born in Wilmerding and raised in East McKeesport, Joyce Wennagel was one of two daughters in the family of Russell and Ruth Piel Wennagel.

In 1954, after graduating from the former East McKeesport High School, Joyce Wennagel was employed in the offices of U.S. Steel's Union Railroad in Braddock, before joining the state Office of Unemployment Compensation.

"My mother, who retired as a supervisor for the state in 1997, had the reputation of being fair with the people she supervised and equitable in dealing with their clients," Gida said.

In her retirement years, Mrs. Helfrich was known as Gramma Joyce, who attended PTA and PTO meetings at East Allegheny High School, attended by her great-nephews, and where she never missed one of their soccer games.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs.Helfrich is survived by her sister, Shirlee Repko of Johnston, Ohio, and her grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Benjamin Gida.

Friends will be received from noon to 2 and 7 to 9 p.m. today in Forgie-Snyder Funeral Home,1032 Broadway Ave. East McKeesport, 412-823-8083.

Services will be held 10 a.m. Monday in Linway United Presbyterian Church, 600 Greensburg Ave., North Versailles, with the Rev. Eric E. Dennis officiating.

Interment will follow in Penn Lincoln Memorial Park, North Versailles.

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