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Paula L. Scala
July 28, 1945 to December 12, 2020
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1960's heart and lung machine pioneer Paula Louise (Griffith) Scala has died at the age of 75 in New Castle. She passed on Dec. 12, 2020, at UPMC Jameson Care Center Skilled Nursing Home. Paula was born on July 28, 1945, in New Castle, to the late Paul and Marian (Nelson) Griffith. Paula wed Gene Scala on Jan. 28, 1967, in Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church (now Holy Spirit Parish of New Castle), and he preceded her in death in 2015.
She graduated from New Castle Senior High School in 1963. At age 14, Paula was one of a select few to receive a life-altering operation to repair a hole between two ventricles in her heart. The procedure included use of a then-experimental heart and lung machine. She was the only patient to survive her test group of 20 patients and not expected to live past the age of 17. Her father arranged for 50 friends from the B&O Railroad to ride a school bus to the Cleveland Clinic, in order to donate blood for her operation there. This year, she celebrated the 60th anniversary of the March 1, 1960, operation.
Paula would go on to become Miss Heart Association, graduate high school, then attend business school in Sharon, to become an orthodontist assistant. Later, she met her husband-to-be. Together, they had four children and grew a glass-engraving business in the North Hills area of New Castle.
She is survived by her four children, Travis Scala of Plano, Texas, Rosalind (Ken) Holloway of Franklin, Tennessee, Roxanne (Tim) Tuinstra of Johnstown and Joseph Scala of New Castle; a brother, Jimmy (Sue) Griffith of Erie; a sister, Sandy (Charles) Robison of Pittsburgh; and five grandchildren, Teddy and Jake Holloway, and Sophia, Patrick and Elena Tuinstra.
Due to circumstances presented by the pandemic, services will not be held. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to J. Bradley McGonigle Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc., 111 W. Falls St., New Castle.
Lord God, you are attentive to the voice of our pleading. Give Paula eternal rest, O Lord, and may your light shine on her forever. Let us find in your Son comfort in our sadness, certainty in our doubt, and courage to live through this hour. Make our faith strong through Christ our Lord. Amen.
