Donald Halyak
September 18, 2026
The following emails between Tom Deitsch and myself are how we determined that Donald Halyak passed away.
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Good afternoon Nick,
I manage an Army Navy club in Youngstown and one of my members is Don Halyak, a classmate of ours. I haven't seen Don for several weeks and today one of my barmates informed me that Don passed away a couple weeks ago at Cleveland clinic. I have not been able to find a death notice or an obituary so I can't confirm this but I knew that Don confided to that he had cancer. You may have already heard this news but I haven't seen anything posted about it. I just wanted to pass this information along.
Regards,
Tom Deitsch Sent from my iPad
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Thank you, Tom!!
I had not seen or heard anything as of yet……. I’ll start looking and put some feelers out. My last address for him was Girard.
I hope all is well with you, Tom.
Regards,
Nick
Sent from my iPad
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Nick,
I still haven't found a death notice or obituary for Donnie Halyak. I did find a Post on Facebook by a barmaid at Masters bar and grill, another business where Donnie was a regular. She stated that Donnie was like a grandfather to her and she was by his side when he passed on September 18th at 5:40 p.m. I know Donnie had no children and that his siblings had passed. I find it tremendously disturbing that someone can live their whole life and leave this earth without even a death notice to acknowledge their existence.
I hope all is well with you.
Regards,
Tom Deitsch
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Hi Tom,
I’ve been searching also… with no success.
I was thinking the same thing….. he lived his whole life and no recognition at all. That’s so sad.
I’ll wait a few more days before i post anything on the website!
Hope all is well with you!!
Regards ,
Nick
Joseph Ambrose
One of my greatest sorrows is what I call the erasure of a human being. I realize that we all must pass. I accept that. What is truly sad to me is the slow erasure of that person's life after they pass. I didn't know Don in school. To my knowledge, I never ran into him since we graduated and know nothing about his life, but his life counted. It counted for something. He was real, present and important to some people, and now, with his passing begins the slow erasure of his life. First people stop talking about you, they then forget your birthday, and the day that you passed and soon you are mentioned no more. Those that knew the deceased have moved on in their lives or have passed on themselves. The circle that once included that soul closes and finally no one even knows who you were talking about if his name comes up. I see this is my own life with loved ones who have passed. We who were very close to them remember things that we might have done together but those memories fade as we grow older and are replaced with new memories or new worries, and once we pass there will be no one alive that has any connection to that person. I guess that is what is happening to Don. Reading the email threads I sort of filled in the lines to see that his circle of friends appears to have been small and his footprint was average at best and now he will fade into obscurity. I sure hope that the folks at Masters Bar raised a glass to him and wished him a safe journey home to God who, by the way, never forgets who we are and never creates an inconsequencial person even though he might appear to us as such. RIP Donnie.
Edward Cisek
Don was a good friend at UHS. He attended St Joseph Elementary School. We played sports together. He played on the East Side Football team when we were seniors ( Joe Marinelli was our awesome quarterback.). Don would hang out with Tom, Manfred, Jack Zeck, Marty Garchar and Joe Yannerela and we would have a beer together. Once I swam across Lake Milton in the middle of the night. Don and Jack Zeck rowed the boat while I swam. We kept in touch while I attended college, but eventually lost communication with him. He was in the Navy for a while. The last time that I talked to him was the night before our 20th high school reunion and he had a good job. He was always dependable likeable and generous. Sad that he had no family. May the Lord be merciful and grant him joy in heaven.Joseph Yannerella
Thanks Tom and Ed – Don and I were close friends. I have many memories of our times together with the crowd Ed mentioned. Unfortunately, the most vivid was when I was helping him paint his mom’s living room and I accidentally knocked over a gallon of paint! Somehow, we got through that! God bless you, Don.
Matt Giambattista
My condolences to Donald's family and to his friends in the UHS class of 66. May he rest in prace
Joseph Marinelli
The posts from Joe Ambrose , Eddy Cisek,Joe Yannerella and Tommy Deitsch 's notification to Nick about our St.Joe`s friend ,Donnie , were all so very nice to read . Donnie was a really nice guy always with a big smile who was part of our East Side group.Thanks Eddy for mentioning Jack Zeck, Manfred and Garch too and Joe 's story about the paint. We all had fun hanging out together in the " good old days "as kids and playing sports together. Sadly even though Donnie did not have immediate family at the end ,it was nice knowing, thanks to Tommy Deitsch, he had a friend by his side to comfort him when he passed . , May he and all of our friends and classmates rest in the peace of Christ .
Elizabeth (Betsie) Gross (Leonow)
After I read these posts, I had to step away from it to collect my thoughts. This is one of the saddest things I've ever read on the UHS'66 website. I don't believe I knew Donald or had any classes with him. I did recognize his face as a classmate. It troubles me that there was no one to write his obituary but there is some small consolation that he had someone with him when died. Rest in peace, Donald. God bless you.
Matt Giambattista
Even though Don didn't have any family with him when he passed we all know God the father and Jesus his son were with him when h passed. Thank you Don for serving our country.
Robert Williams
One of the many reasons for having this website, is for classmates to comment about their deceased friends so that other classmates can learn about them without an obituary. Thanks for telling Don's story to all of us who didn't know much about his life or his service to our country. RIP Don. Thanks to Nick Srnec for managing the website so that we can stay connected.