Eleanor Pishko embodied Pittsburgh’s wedding cookie tradition.

“She loved to bake … she made over 10,000 cookies for my wedding,” Pishko’s daughter, Pamela Weirs said, remembering the day they moved the cookies to the reception venue.

Pishko learned of her love for baking from her mother-in-law, Weirs said, noting that Pishko’s favorite things to bake were homemade bread and buns.

Pishko’s son, Kenneth, said he remembers “The smile on her face when she was baking, especially when taking cookies out of the oven.”

And while not a family tradition originally, the love for baking was passed on Weirs’ 15-year-old daughter, Elena.

“My mom taught her everything she knows,” Weirs said.

Mrs. Eleanor Pishko, 85, of Greensburg died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, at Weatherwood Manor. Born in Slickville on May 31, 1934, she was the daughter of Isaac and Mary Pongan.

While a baker at heart, Mrs. Pishko had several other talents, including making homemade ravioli, which she and her sister, Florence, would sell.

She also had a knack for sewing, which often showed during Halloween, when she would make costumes for her children. She also sewed bedding for the nurseries of her grandchildren.

Weirs would often tell her mother, “Mom, there is so much. I can’t not look around my house and see something that you didn’t help contribute to.”

Spending most of her life in Slickville, Mrs. Pishko met her husband of 63 years while walking home from school. After marrying, the couple settled in Slickville, where they raised their children and helped out with grandchildren.

“Her and my father, I have to say, were a huge factor in my daughter’s early days. I was blessed they were retired and could watch her while I worked,” Weirs said, remembering a time she came home and her daughter could recite the alphabet despite not yet starting school.

Together, Mrs. Pishko and her husband, John, enjoyed polka dancing with friends, but mainly spending time with family.

When Mrs. Pishko wasn’t in the kitchen cooking or baking, she enjoyed doing crafts, crossword puzzles and canning. She was a member of St. Sylvester Catholic Church and its Rosary Alter Society, where she often helped out in the kitchen during fundraisers.

In addition to her husband, she is preceded in death by an infant daughter, Kathleen Frances Pishko.

In addition to her daughter and son, Mrs. Pishko is survived by her daughter Patricia Zaccagnini and her grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Vaia Funeral Home, 463 Athena Drive, Delmont. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday in St. Sylvester Catholic Church, 3028 State Route 819, Slickville. Committal services and entombment will follow in Twin Valley Memorial Park, Delmont.

Donations can be made in Mrs. Pishko’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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