Brenda Biddle

Brenda Biddle, age 83, of Washington, PA passed away May 15, 2024 at Paramount Senior Living at Peters Township in McMurray, PA. She was born in Duluth, MN to George and Alma (Korkalo) Johnson. She leaves behind her three children Mark Mollico (Corinne), Kirk Mollico, and Rhonda Message (John) along with five grandchildren James Mollico (Megan), John Message (Ashley), Adam Message (Whitney), Erik Mollico (Melanie), and Madison Mollico along with honorary granddaughter Nicole Sellig. She also leaves behind three great-granchildren (Alana, Camden, and Dominic) along with bonus great-grandchildren (Kristlan and Raylen), many nieces and nephews, and other extended family.

She is preceded in death by her parents George and Alma Johnson and her siblings George A. Johnson, Doris Solem, and Leslie Johnson.

Brenda married young and spent her first marriage traveling around the country with her Navy husband and children. She loved to explore different parts of the country. During this time, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. She spent her career in nursing and serving others starting as a floor nurse and working her way up as a trainer and then as a nurse administrator for the VA Medical system, where she worked at several facilities in multiple states throughout her career. She also took her talent and put it to use in the Army reserves, where she was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, where she met her second husband.

Brenda loved road trips and wouldn’t hesitate to drive to see her family or friends. She loved to get together and just have a good time hanging out with relatives for any occasion or no occasion at all. She would often visit her children and their family. She loved to be the “cool” grandma and teach her grandchildren poker or other card games, play on the Playstation, or anything they wanted to do. She was an avid traveler and would often bring her grandchildren money or items from her travels to Russia, Italy, Egypt, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world. She would also spend two weeks in Hawaii every other year and loved the laid-back culture.

Brenda had other hobbies besides traveling. She loved to gamble and would be very lucky at video poker. She was an avid mystery and newspaper reader. She was fairly tech savvy, for her generation, and got into learning computers and would often configure it for her needs. She also followed politics closely and was well versed on what was going on in our country and around the world.

We will miss our loving Mom, Grandma, Aunt, and friend. She was always there to give advice asked for or not, be ready with a smile or hug depending on the occasion, ready to shop for bargains at a moment’s notice, ready to travel anywhere when a good opportunity presented itself, eat at her favorite restaurants, or just hang out and spend hours talking in person or on the phone.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the American Cancer Society (https://donate.cancer.org). All arrangements were entrusted to Pittsburgh Cremation and Funeral Care.