Mary V. Pendleton

Mary Vernon Pendleton, 96, of Wyomissing, departed this life at about 5:30 PM on Tuesday, March 31. The daughter of Stephen B. Vernon, Sr. and Marie Driscoll Vernon of Greenfields in Reading, Mary was the widow of Joseph S. Pendleton, Jr., and the mother of six children. For nearly four decades she and her husband, a longtime employee of Carpenter Technology who had served as an officer in the Army Field Artillery during World War II, resided on a historic farmstead in Maidencreek Township.

A lifelong resident of Berks County, Mary devoted much of her time and energy to local organizations promoting health, culture, and the general effort to sustain the Reading-Berks area as a viable and livable community. She was a past president of the Heart Fund of Berks County, the St. Joseph's Hospital Auxiliary, and the Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County. No doubt many Berks Countians from every walk of life encountered Mary in the 1960s and 1970s in her role as a staffer at the Hospital Thrift Shop, formerly located in a storefront on Penn Street near the Peanut Bar. She was active in several other cultural and philanthropic organizations, serving terms as a board member and helping to organize innumerable fundraising events. Raised a Roman Catholic, Mary was a successive member of several parishes. Her final congregation was Sacred Heart in West Reading. An alumna of Georgetown Visitation Academy in Washington, DC, she received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Alvernia University in 1984, the first such honorary degree to be conferred by the university.

Those who knew Mary will remember her abundant good humor, her generosity to others, her enjoyment of and concern with the arts, with plants and animals both domestic and wild, and with the natural and historic environment, and her enthusiasm for travel.

Mary is survived by her sisters Anne Parkman of Saxtons River, VT, and Laura (Lolly) Bury of Nokomis, FL; her children Mary C. (Connie) Phypers and her husband Dean of Vero Beach, FL, Joseph S. Pendleton III and his wife JoAnn of Fleetwood, PA, Stephanie B. Pendleton of Middletown, VA, Jeanne P. Sturms and her husband Dennis of Concord, NH, and Philip E. Pendleton and his wife Deborah of Oley, PA; her daughter-in-law Nancy H. Pendleton of Boulder, CO, widow of her deceased son James A. Pendleton; as well as ten grandchildren: Kara (Schott) Buchanan of Burlington, VT, Chad Schott of Highland Ranch, CO, Jason Schott of Peyton, CO, Jessica (Pendleton) Heck of Oley, PA, Katharine (Pendleton) Smaglinski of Leesport, PA, Amanda Pendleton of Denver, Co, Joseph Pendleton IV of Fleetwood, PA, Katherine Davis of Colorado Springs, CO, Anne Davis of Brooklyn, NY and Nathaniel Pendleton of Brooklyn, NY, and ten great-grandchildren: Gwyneth and Iris Buchanan, Chapin and Elisabeth Schott, Lila, Ruby, and Grayson Smaglinski, Oliver and Elliott Heck and Hunter Davis.

She was predeceased by her brother Stephen B. Vernon, Jr., and sisters Emily Lewis and Jean Ewing.

In lieu of flowers a memorial donation to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary or to the Animal Rescue League of Berks County would be appreciated. Please send to the attention of Craig George, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 1700 Hawk Mountain Road, Kempton, PA 19529, or of the Animal Rescue League of Berks County, PO Box 69, Mohnton, PA 19540.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, April 11, at 11:30 a.m. in the Chapel of the Mother House of Bernadine Franciscan Sisters. 460 St. Bernadine Street, Reading, PA 19607. Friends may call in Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home Inc., 739 Penn Avenue, West Reading, PA 19611, Friday, April 10 from 5 – 7 p.m.. Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhome.com.