Mary Martha Truschel

Mary Martha Truschel went to her heavenly home on Sunday, August 27, 2023, after a brief illness. Born on January 17, 1956 to the late Eugene John “Jack” Truschel and Mary Margaret O’Connell “Micky” Truschel, she was a graduate of Allegheny College and the Dickinson School of Law. She had a distinguished 33 year career as a lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, counseling and representing all aspects of the department from mining and mine safety to emergency response to safe drinking water. A skilled litigator, she argued and won 5 cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, resulting in landmark decisions preserving our environment. She was honored with the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Environmental and Energy Law Section Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.    

A devoted member of the Church of the Ascension, she served in multiple leadership roles including vestry, stewardship, chancellor, and serving on diocesan committees. Most recently she was part of the children’s ministry prayer team, a demonstration of her love for young people and their families.  

She was an avid reader and loved politics, travel and adventure, and hosting numerous family getaways. She was a beloved daughter, niece, sister, and most especially aunt and great-aunt to her 10 nieces and nephews and 3 grandnieces and nephew, to whom she was known as Aunt Money, spoiling them accordingly. Nothing was more important to her than her faith and her family, and she never missed an opportunity to organize a get-together to watch a Steelers game or celebrate any other excuse for a party. She was enthusiastically looking forward to the start of football season at the time of her death.  

She is survived by her aunt, Patricia Truschel of Pittsburgh, her uncle and aunt John and Judy O’Connell of Greensburg, brother John Truschel and wife Laurie of Chapel Hill, NC, brother Tim and wife Natalie Hauser of Miami Beach, sister Ann Truschel and Jim Evans of Pittsburgh, sister Peggy Peeler and brother-in-law Tom of Selinsgrove, PA, sister-in-law Maria Boos of Montclair New Jersey, nieces and nephews Andrew (Larissa), Jenny (Mike), Amy, David, James, Matt, Jack (Jess), Chuck, Mike, and Lucy, great nieces Noelle and Cora and great nephew Jack, as well as numerous loving cousins and friends. All of us understood what it felt like to be in the circle of her love.   

Mary will be laid to rest with her family in All Saints Braddock Catholic Cemetery. Friends are invited to a memorial service in her honor at the Church of the Ascension, 4729 Ellsworth Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213, on Saturday, October 7, at 2:00pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Church of the Ascension, or to an environmental cause of your choosing.   

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