Other than shopping on cable channel QVC, Mary A. Paski's favorite hobby was her two grandsons.
"My mother wasn't a very complex woman," said her son, Gene Paski. "She was a simple woman who loved the people around her and especially loved her son and her grandchildren. The grandchildren were the joy of her life."
Mary A. Paski, who along with her husband established Paski's restaurant in the Strip District in the late 1960s, died Saturday, June 22, 2002, at the McCandless home of her son and daughter-in-law, Gene and Catherine Paski. She was 69.
Gene Paski said his mother also was noted "for giving gifts to people. She was good to a lot of people. She cared for her mother when she was ill, she cared for her husband when he was ill and when she became ill, we cared for her."
She had moved to the home of her son and daughter-in-law two years ago after having lived all of her life in the Strip District.
Mrs. Paski was born Mary A. Crivella on Nov. 9, 1932, a daughter of Eugene and Stella Crivella, and graduated from the old Bellefield Vocational High School, Oakland.
She worked at Classey's, a Dormont beauty salon, and operated Mary Ann's, a Penn Hills dress shop.
In November 1953, she married Joseph Paski. He died in 1993.
After Eugene Crivella died, Stella Crivella bought a Strip District restaurant and named it Stella's. Joseph Paski bought it from her in 1969 and renamed it Paski's.
"They made big hoagies and pizza at the time," said Gene Paski, who now owns the restaurant with his wife. The restaurant at 2533 Penn Ave. for a number of years has had a larger, full-service menu.
"She was known for her cooking," Catherine Paski said. "Her spaghetti sauce was one of her specialties.
"She cooked at the restaurant for years and ran the restaurant up until we changed the name to Gene's Last Chance in 1997. She retired to baby-sit our son."
Mrs. Paski is survived by her son and daughter-in-law; two grandsons Joey and Alexander; two brothers Eugene "Sonny" Crivella of Allison Park and Charles "Pete" Crivella of Shaler Township; a sister, Jean Motta of Ross Township; her niece and caretaker, Linda Crivella of Allison Park, and other nieces and nephews.
Friends will be received from noon to 9 p.m. today and Tuesday at the Daniel T. D'Allesandro Funeral Home Ltd., Butler and 46th streets, Lawrenceville.
Mrs. Paski was a member of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, 21st Street, Strip District, where a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery, Lawrenceville.
