Carmella (Millie) Colose went to be with the Lord Jesus on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 while surrounded by family at the North Hills Health and Rehabilitation Center located near Pittsburgh.
Born to Tinadero and Maria (Fama) Casamento, she was wife to Joseph Colose and sister to John, Philip, Victor, Frank, Samuel, Mary (Clegg), Carrie and Margaret (Spatero), all of whom preceded her in death.
She was the loving mother of Eileen Chnupa and her husband, Joe of Pittsburgh, grandmother to Tyler Chnupa of Glen Burnie, MD, Leigh Colyer and her husband, Jack of Pittsburgh and great-grandmother to Enzo and Cole Colyer.
Growing up in Clearfield, Mrs. Colose worked as a seamstress at a local clothing factory and developed an early interest in fashion and hair styling.
In 1956, she obtained her professional hair styling license in Hollywood, CA, and she studied advanced hair fashion at the Comer and Duran Studio. Winner of the Halliwell Hair Styling award in California, and a statewide competition in Miami, FL, she was offered a job as a beauty consultant in Paris, France, a stylist position at a major movie studio, and a job as hair stylist at a studio in New York City.
Her answer to such offers was always the same: she wanted to go home to Clearfield and open up a beauty shop near her mother. She did just that, opening her first shop in Clearfield in 1958, and operating it successfully until July of 2006.
She loved her family and customers, and developed lifelong relationships with them. No one enjoyed family get-together’s more than she, and those occasions gave her a chance to demonstrate two more of her talents: baking bread and making desserts.
A member of the Saint Francis Roman Catholic Church in Clearfield, Mrs. Colose took every opportunity to show her faith. She provided for a new set of chimes and steeple cross at the church and gave several of the local nuns haircuts on a regular basis. Their appreciation was shown in a special gift that one of them brought back from a trip to the Vatican in Rome: a papal blessing from Pope John Paul II for Mrs. Colose and her family.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be said at 10 a.m. Thursday at the St. Francis Catholic Church, Clearfield with Father Brandon Kleckner officiating. Burial will follow in the Calvary Cemetery, Clearfield.
Friends will be received from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Wednesday and on from 9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to St. Francis Catholic Church, 212 S. Front St., Clearfield.
To sign the online guestbook, go to www.beardsleyfuneralhome.com.