Stella Helen Siwicki

Stella Helen Siwicki, 98, formerly of Reiffton, passed away on June 1, 2014 at the Berkshire Center in Exeter Township. She was the daughter of the late Mary (Kolodziejski) and Joseph Gwiazdzienski who came from Poland in the early 1900′s. Stella, a very able student, was required to leave school after seventh grade to help support her family. Her early employment was in the knitting mills, however, she later worked for Stichler Novelties Company where she was the Favor Department Manager retiring in 1977. In the fifties she also had her own beauty shop on Chestnut Street. Stella was a lifelong member of St. Mary’ R.C.C. Stella lost her young husband, John, to cancer in 1944. For the rest of her life she and her brother, Joseph S., who died in 2003, lived together. Their relationship was one of filial devotion marked by mutual consideration and much laughter. In 1965 Stella and Joseph built a home on Perkiomen Ave. In 1967 Ray and Susan Brubaker became their next-door neighbors and thus began a lifelong family friendship which included the three Brubaker children and seven Brubaker grandchildren and numerous Collie Dogs. Stella is also survived by a goddaughter, Stella Pokrywka and her husband Fred, of Hanover, Pennsylvania and by her good friends, Marie Sullivan and Nina Reynolds of Reiffton. Friends may call from 9:30-10:00 A.M. with a A Mass of Christian Burial being celebratedat 10:00 A.M. in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church 203 S. 12th Street Reading, PA 19602. Burial will be private in St. Mary’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your favorite charity. Lutz Funeral Home, Inc. Mount Penn in charge of arrangements. For online condolences please visit www.LutzFuneralHome.com