Haluska, Stanley

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Obituary

Stanley Haluska EAST BERNE — Stanley Haluska, a licensed hypnotherapist and author who grew up in Berne, died unexpectedly on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 at Albany Medical Center. He was 63. The son of Lois (Leggett) Haluska and the late Charles Haluska, he graduated from Berne-Knox-Westerlo. “He was very clean cut,” said his sister, Ann Resnick, describing what he was like in high school.

Mr. Haluska had attended St. 

Bernadette’s Church in Berne. He went on to study at Mata Christi and Our Lady of Angels seminaries. “He wanted to be a priest,” said his sister. After Mr. Haluska completed his studies, Mrs. Resnick said, he ran children’s homes for boys in Albany. “He took in underprivileged kids,” she said. He adopted one of the boys, his son, Chris, now grown, she said. About 30 years ago, she said, her brother moved to Alabama to study to become a hypnotherapist. It was there that he met his wife, Patricia Walsh Haluska, said Mrs. Resnick. Together, they wrote a book called Ships of Song: A Parable of Ascension. “It’s about the afterlife in a Star Wars sort of way,” said Mrs. Resnick. Amazon describes their book this way: “Stanley and Patricia Walsh bring a unique blend of inspiring action and vivid imagery to this epic tale of human existence. Stanley a minister, lecturer, and therapist, and Patricia an artist, photographer, and graphic designer, have combined their expertise, talents, and search for spiritual truth into a compelling drama of spiritual awakening.” “He was very giving,” said Mrs. Resnick of her brother. “He’d give you the shirt off his back.” Mr. Haluska is survived by his wife Patricia Walsh Haluska; his son, Chris, of Ashville, N.C.; His mother, Lois (Leggett) Haluska; his sister, Ann Resnick, and her husband, Mark; and many cousins and friends. Funeral services were private and handled by the Fredendall Funeral Home of Altamont. — Melissa Hale-Spencer

Altamont Enterprise - November 1, 2012

Additional Media

Haluska’s sister asks ‘How did this happen?’By Melissa Hale-Spencer ALBANY COUNTY — Stanley Haluska died on Saturday, having suffocated himself while a prisoner at Albany County’s jail. At 63, he was awaiting extradition to Alabama on sex abuse charges. In March 2010, Haluska was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after being found guilty of sexual abuse of a boy under the age of 12, meaning no probation is allowed. In October 2011, an appeals court confirmed his conviction. The Jefferson County, Alabama judge described Haluska’s sentencing as “polarizing,” according to a May 14, 2010 story in The Birmingham News, stating the victim’s mother called Haluska a danger to children, while his wife cited a lifetime of helping troubled adolescent boys; two dozen people attended the sentencing in support of Haluska and the judge received 30 letters also in his support. “He had always said he wouldn’t be taken back,” said Haluska’s sister, Ann Resnick, of East Berne. “In Alabama, he’d be a white boy in a mostly black prison, and they don’t like pedophiles. He was sentenced to 10 years; that’s hard time. And he was crippled.” Haluska had arrived at the East Berne home of his 88-yearold mother on July 4. “He had shaved his beard off and cut his hair, and brought every stitch of clothing and his computer,” recalled his sister. “We knew something was wrong.” Resnick and her husband, Mark, live next door to Resnick’s mother, Lois Haluska. The family goes back generations in the Hilltowns, she said. Mr. Haluska had graduated from Berne-Knox-Westerlo in 1967 as a “nice, clean-cut” kid, his sister said. “He was very religious,” she said, and attended St. Bernadette’s Church in Berne. He wanted to be a priest and went to Mata Christi and Our Lady of Angels seminaries. He then ran children’s homes for boys in Albany, taking in underprivileged kids, she said. Thirty years ago, he was delivering pizza when he was hit by a drunk driver, pinned between two cars, his sister said. “It crushed his right leg,” she said. “He was crippled with one leg….He was in little pieces, like a Tinkertoy.” After that, she said, he went

to Alabama to study to become a hypnotherapist, someone who treats medical conditions through hypnosis. He met his wife there and they wrote a book together. He wrote another book, “a comical story of his life,” while he was in prison, she said. He wrote it out longhand on paper, since computers aren’t allowed in jail. After his July arrival in Berne, Mrs. Resnick recalled, “My husband looked him up on Crime Stoppers; he was on the Top 10 List.” “He lied,” said Mrs. Resnick. “He claimed he didn’t do anything, that it was all a mistake. He was on the run.” Recently, his family has wondered if he may have been abused at seminary. “My mother came up with that,” said Mrs. Resnick. “So many boys dropped out at a time.” “I made the call,” she said of informing Crime Stoppers of her brother’s whereabouts. “If they came without notice, it would have killed my mother,” she said. Of turning in her brother, Mrs. Resnick said, “It was hard.” But, she went on, her husband, who works as a nurse, could have lost his license. “You can’t harbor a fugitive,” she said. Mark Resnick’s brother is a Bethlehem Police officer so Mr. Resnick called his brother. “They came quietly on a Sunday afternoon, July 18,” said Mrs. Resnick of the officers who took him to Albany County’s jail. “They were nice about it.” Mr. Haluska was angry. “He accused my husband of ruining his life,” said Mrs. Resnick. Mr. Resnick visited Mr. Haluska in jail a couple of times she said. “My mother went in once,” she said, alluding to how upsetting the restrictive atmosphere in the jail is. “He was fighting extradition,” said Mrs. Resnick. His wife maintained his innocence, she said. On Friday, Oct. 27, the day he suffocated himself, Mrs. Resnick said, “His wife talked to him that morning, and said his spirits were good. “Marshals from Alabama must have come,” Mrs. Resnick surmised, adding, “We don’t know what happened after that.” Captain William Riley with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office said what happened is this: On Friday, Oct. 26, at 3:15 p.m., a guard found Haluska on the cell floor. “He tried to suffocate himself… with a plastic bag,” he said. “They opened the cell and started to perform CPR,” Captain Riley said. “He had a pulse when they left with him in the ambulance. They tried to use the AED,” he said of an automatic external defibrillator. “He was still alive with a heartbeat.” The ambulance took Mr. Haluska to Albany Medical Center. “They told us later that he was kept alive on a respirator. He was brain dead,” said Captain Riley. “They were waiting for the family to make a decision.” The next thing the family knew on Friday was at 4:30 p.m. when Mr. Resnick, who works as a nurse at Albany Medical Center, by chance saw the name Stanley Haluska listed as being “in full arrest,” said Mrs. Resnick. “The sheriff did come to my mother’s house that evening,” she said. “We know he didn’t want to go back,” she said of extradition to Alabama. “But we want to know how they let this happen on their watch.” Cecelia Logue, spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney David Soares, said yesterday, “Our office is currently not investigating.” However, she said, as a matter of routine, the State Commission on Corrections will conduct an investigation. ...Haluska’s jailhouse suicide troubles family (Continued from page 1

Altamont Enterprise - November 1, 2012

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