Julie Amendola, 100, celebrates with three parties

By JIM BUSCH
For the Mon Valley Independent
Julia Amendola has had a busy week. In addition to volunteering at the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, making pirogies at her church, bingo and her weekly girl’s night out with her friends, she attended three 100th birthday parties held in her honor.
“I don’t want to look at another piece of cake for a while,” she said.
Born Julia Svec on March 2, 1919, in Roscoe, she was the fourth of six children — five girls and one boy — born to Slovak immigrant parents. Growing up in the heart of the Great Depression, times were hard for her family. Julia loved school and dreamed of completing high school and becoming a nurse. Like many children of her generation, she had to leave school after the eighth grade to help support the family. She took a job as a housekeeper for the family of a local furniture store owner.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.