Evelyn M. Montebello

Evelyn Gemperlein Montebello, who was one month short of her 93rd birthday, died Tuesday, August 30, at Concordia Nursing Home in Cabot, Pa.
      
She was a lover of Christmas, all dogs (especially Toby and Eddie, who preceded her in death), thick pats of butter on saltines, goofy jokes, melted ice cream, reading, ripping recipes from magazines and sometimes cooking them, and her many grandchildren. 
     
Mrs. Montebello was born and reared in Pittsburgh and lived subsequently in Kittanning, Ford City, and Sarver. 
 

She bore 15 children, all Gemperleins — one, Kurt, died in infancy and another, David, passed away at age 6. She devoted her life to her children and their spouses and, eventually, to her 23 grandchildren. Some of those relatives were present when she passed away.

Mrs. Montebello began planning her holiday gift-giving in January and packed her house with family for raucous and calorie-packed Christmases. She once painted ceramic Santas that she gifted her family. She also painted Santa figurines representing every U.S. state. She loved a good soap opera and believed in washing her floors on her hands and knees rather than a mop. She loved to iron clothing, treating it as a Zen activity. She was known to iron bedsheets.

She had a sly sense of humor, even in her final months of life. But she was of the era of strict parenting, with some of her favorite child-rearing phrases being, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself!” and “You’ll get your reward in heaven.”

Born on Sept.25,1929, she married John L. Gemperlein when she was 20 years old after he returned from serving in the infantry in World War II. They began their family while he attended medical school, a situation that fueled many tales of surviving with little money.

After the death of her husband, John, in 1976, Evelyn remarried Rudy Montebello in 1985. Rudy passed away in 2019.
 
She is survived by her 13 children, 23 grandchildren and many other extended family members.

There will be no visitation or services.

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