Inc. 1967
Mary Booth Artis, a woman of indomitable spirit who faced life's challenges with an infectious positive attitude, died Tuesday, Nov. 3 at Jefferson Regional Medical Center following complications during a medical procedure. She was 72 and lived in New Eagle. Mrs. Artis was just an infant when a family friend took her from the arms of her mother, Helen Simkanich McNulty, and exclaimed, “Look at those cheeks. She's just a little Pinky.” The nickname stuck. Mary forever became Pinky. After graduating from Charleroi High School in 1961, Pinky married her high-school sweetheart Gary C. Booth. Less than two years after the wedding, Mr. Booth was killed in a car accident while in California exploring a job opportunity, leaving Pinky to face impending motherhood alone. Despite the loss of her husband, Pinky devoted herself to raising their only child, a little girl whom she named Shelly. She did so with the support of Mr. Booth's mother, Freda Smith. Over the next 20 years Pinky combined her passion for dance and love of children by working as the secretary at the former Marlene Celaschi School of Dance in Charleroi. Pinky eventually took a position in the Radiology Department at Monongahela Valley Hospital where she worked as an x-ray technician aide and patient escort for nearly 30 years. Staff and patients alike admired her for her wisdom, kind heart, and compassion. Through the course of her work, and in her personal life, Pinky had a reputation as a woman with a loving presence who always had a word of encouragement for others. In the 1980s, friends conspired to introduce Pinky to Arthur Artis, himself a widower with two children. The couple married in 1985, and over the last three decades has taken joy in watching their blended family grow. In addition to her husband, Art, and daughter Shelly Booth Jones and son-in-law David, of Fallowfield, Pinky is survived by a daughter Kristi Artis Large and son-in-law Craig, also of Fallowfield; a son, Scott, and daughter-in-law Natalie, of Monongahela; a sister, Patricia McNulty, of New Eagle; six grandchildren Aubrey Cardinale, Nicolee Artis, Danielle and Jacob Large, and Jeremy and Jacob Jones; three brothers-in-law, Barry Griffith, of Munhall, Doug Griffith, of Donora and the Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Lynette Griffith, of England; a sister and brother-inlaw Kay Booth Betler, and Kenneth, Ill., and , a cousin Sharon and her husband, David Crockett, and other cousins. Visitation will held Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at that Schrock-Hogan Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc., 226 Fallowfield Ave., Charleroi. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Belle Vernon Cemetery. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.schrock-hogan.com
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