Lance Maholic was always willing to help — especially if the help involved electrical work — and tried to make everybody laugh.
“He was the kindest person you’d ever want to meet,” said his brother, Chris Maholic of Jeannette. “And he was the typical ‘fun uncle’ to the kids. They loved playing with him.”
Lance Maholic of Jeannette died Friday, July 20, 2018, of atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease. He was 49.
Mr. Maholic was born Nov. 11, 1968, a son of the late Edward T. Maholic Sr. and Carol Maholic of McCullough. He graduated from Penn-Trafford High School and in 1986 joined the military.
“Him and his childhood friend John Beech both joined,” said Mr. Maholic’s sister, Kyrie O’Toole of North Versailles.
Mr. Maholic served just over four years at Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. His brother had a chance to visit one winter.
“There was a foot-and-a-half of snow everywhere,” he said. “But we saw all the castles and pubs we could in two weeks.”
The Air Force was a natural fit for Mr. Maholic, according to his brother.
“My dad had an airplane, and (Lance) was always at the hangar with me at the (then) Latrobe airport,” he said. “We took care of the airplane.”
Later in life, Mr. Maholic began to indulge his creative side.
“I was cleaning out his apartment, and I found all these ceramics he’d been doing in the last year or so,” his brother said.
Mr. Maholic painted a mural that is displayed on a wall at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs H.J. Heinz Campus in O’Hara Township, according to O’Toole.
“I didn’t even know about that,” his brother said. “I’ve never seen it.”
After returning from the Air Force, Mr. Maholic worked at Master-Lee Energy in Latrobe, where he met his former wife. He and his family lived in Greensburg and briefly in Virginia before moving back to Pennsylvania.
O’Toole said her brother’s main passion was helping others. His brother agreed.
“He would always want to do your wiring,” he said. “He was a great electrician.”
“No matter who you were or what you were dealing with, my brother would stop, listen, empathize and try to help,” O’Toole said. “And he never turned that off.”
Mr. Maholic is survived by children Alivia, Hunter and Ava of Greensburg; brothers Eddie Maholic Jr. of McCullough, and Christopher Maholic; sisters Christe Ann Kostkas of Harrison City, Angela Maholic of Irwin, Kyrie O’Toole, Sheri Maholic of Harrison City, Tara Watson of Jeannette, Ali Maholic of Export, and Courtney Moran, of Denver.
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© 2018 The Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)
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