| Honored by: | Carole Horowitz and Jane Zaring |
| Brick location: | A:23 map |
Mary Pennepacker Schwenk Kepner, 92, a home economics teacher in Glen Ridge, New Jersey from 1958 to 1976, died Tuesday at Mercy Suburban Hospital. A resident of Glen Ridge for 40 years, Mrs. Kepner moved to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania in 1996. John Kepner of Gwynedd Valley, Pa., her son, said that the cause of death was heart failure.
Mrs. Kepner began her teaching career in Upper Merion, Pa. She moved to Allentown, Pa. when she married in 1934. She lived in Allentown for 17 years. During World War II she served as the Director of the Food Conservation Program for Lehigh County. She continued her teaching career during the War and in Quakertown where she moved in 1951.
Mrs. Kepner was active in civic and church affairs. She was a co-founder of the Senior Citizen's Association of Glen Ridge, a member of the Glen Ridge Women's Club, the American Association of University Women and the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a lifelong supporter of the Heifer Project of the United Church of Christ. She served as an election official and was a tutor for inner-city children during her retirement. Always a teacher, she conducted special programs for elementary students during the last years of her life.
Born July 19, 1908 in Zeiglervilie, Pa. she was the daughter of the late Franklin K. Schwenk and Emma Elizabeth Pennepacker.
Mrs. Kepner graduated from Cedar Crest College in Allentown in 1930. She was a strong supporter of Cedar Crest and attended her 70th reunion there this past summer.
She was predeceased by her husband, Edward Arlington Kepner, in 1957, and her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Kerelo, in 1983.
In addition to her son in Gwynedd Valley, she is survived by a daughter, Priscilla Sage of Ames, Iowa, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. June 2001
The funeral is scheduled at 10 A.M. on Friday, October 20th, at Boehm’s United Church of Christ, 571 Penllyn-Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, Pa. Burial will be in Schwenksville Cemetery in Schwenksville, Pa. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Cedar Crest College, Glen Ridge Congregational Church or Boehm’s United Church of Christ.
Submitted on 4/24/01