Janet K. Sepesy opened an indoor skateboarding park in Uniontown because youngsters had no other place to go to practice their sport.
"Skateboarding has been in her son's life forever," her daughter-in-law, Erin Sepesy, said. "These kids in this little town needed somewhere to go. That's why she put her heart and soul in it."
The former resident of a Pittsburgh suburb died sometime early Saturday after falling 20 feet down an elevator shaft in Union Skate Park, a three-story facility located at 11 Iowa St. She was 62.
Young patrons of the skate park placed cards and flowers outside the building yesterday.
"These kids have been calliing us left and right, bringing down cards and flowers, hanging out," Erin Sepesy said. "These kids were family to her ... She is sadly missed by everybody."
An autopsy yesterday showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and face. Fayette County Coroner Philip Reilly said Sepesy was rendered unconscious by the fall. He said she died within minutes after falling.
The death has been ruled accidental.
Erin Sepesy said her mother-in-law owned the building, a former furniture warehouse. Janet Sepesy operated the skate park while her son, Nathan Sepesy and his wife, Erin, ran a store out of the same building, Central Skate Shop.
Janet K. Sepesy, formerly of 1240 Green Valley Drive, Apt. 18, Scott, Allegheny County, was staying temporarily in a vacant loft on the building's second floor after having sold her condominium. Erin Sepesy said a closing on the sale was slated for Aug. 1.
Reilly said a corner of the empty, second-floor loft was sparsely furnished with a couch, bed and nightstand. Lighting was provided by a floor and table lamp.
Nathan Sepesy discovered his mother's body approximately an hour after arriving at the building around 12 p.m. Saturday.
"We open at noon Saturdays, and she's usually there, too," Erin Sepesy said. "Her car was there, her purse was there. An hour went by, she wasn't there, that's when (Nathan) went upstairs."
Reilly said Janet Sepesy appears to have arisen sometime early Saturday morning, possibly to use a stairwell to reach a first-floor bathroom. She likely became disoriented and fell into the shaft.
"Across the room, you would go left to go downstairs to the bathroom," Reilly said. "If you're disoriented, or turn right, or trip, you would go right down that shaft. There is nothing to hold on to, or grab."
Reilly said inadequate lighting may have contributed to the accident.
The skate park and shop are closed indefinitely.
Reilly said he will recommend that the freight elevator's gates be sealed to prevent a similar tragedy from occuring.
