Ardent volunteer Ann Casile is being recalled by friends as a true champion of her Blawnox community.

Casile died Feb. 17 at age 87.

A founding member of Aspinwall Meals on Wheels, which operates from St. Edward Church in Blawnox, Casile left her mark as a woman who was born to help.

“She was such a vocal champion for our organization,” said Susan Glendenning, a cook at Meals on Wheels. “For nearly 50 years she has been our best advocate, staunchest supporter and best recruiter of volunteers.

“She leaves a legacy of community service and we were blessed to have such a dynamic force of nature spearhead our cause.”

Casile’s daughter, Diane, said her mother was always willing to lend a hand no matter the cause.

She volunteered for St. Edward Church, a Catholic parish, from the early 1990s through the mid-2000s, organizing fundraisers and fellowship events.

It was there that she reunited with childhood friend Phyllis Trail. The pair attended grade school together at St. Scholastica’s in Aspinwall and high school at the now-shuttered St. Raphael’s High School in Morningside.

“She was a hard worker and a very good friend,” Trail said. “My grandparents lived across the street from her growing up and then we ended up being neighbors in O’Hara Woods.”

The two would share long talks on the patio and support each other through life’s trials, Trail said.

“She was my crutch when I needed it,” Trail said. “We had lots of laughs together and it’s not easy to find people like that anymore.”

Casile, a mother of five, spent her early adult years helping with baseball and football boosters, and “sewing costumes for hundreds of children” in local dance schools, her daughter said.

“She also fed any child that ran through our house at meal time.”

When Meals on Wheels started in 1975, it was housed at Aspinwall Presbyterian Church. Casile signed on for almost every role to help prepare up to 75 meals each weekday delivered to residents within the Fox Chapel Area School District.

In 2015, Casile said during an interview with The Herald that it felt “nice” to do good and that volunteering was ingrained in her at an early age because “my mother and father taught me to give back to the community.”

Casile served as Meals on Wheels co-president for several years and only stepped down when her husband, Joe, became ill in 2005. He died in 2014.

“Even then, when she could no longer serve on the steering committee, she still volunteered packing meals,” Diane said.

The food delivery service has distributed more than 400,000 meals since 1975.

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