Irene Lucas

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Lifelong Greenridge resident Irene M. Lucas, 87, a homemaker and figurine painter and artist, died Monday in Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay.

Born Irene M. Yasosky, Mrs. Lucas worked for several years as a figurine painter and artist for Howats Ceramic Works, Tottenville. She also worked as jewelry maker for Sobel Brothers, Perth Amboy, N.J., and as a reader for the former Romeike Press Clippings, Clifton.

Mrs. Lucas was a graduate of Tottenville High School and a lifelong parishioner of St. Joseph R.C. Church, Rossville.

She enjoyed creating beautiful oil paintings on canvas, according to family. She also loved tending to her garden and won many blue ribbons at the Richmond County Fair for her flowers and vegetables.

Of Slovakian heritage, Mrs. Lucas was a great cook and baker of Slovak foods and dishes.

"She was a loving, deeply religious devoted mother and we were extremely close ... my heart is broken. Her family, home and faith were everything to her and everyone loved her sweetness and kindness," said her daughter, Diane A. Lucas.

Her husband of 49 years, Henry, died in 1994.

The funeral will be Friday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph's Church. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: St. Joseph's RC Church Friday, May 20,2011 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Thursday, May 19,2011 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: St. Joseph's RC Church-Rossville