Obituary of Mary E. Wilcox

Mary Elizabeth Coe Wilcox passed away early morning August 8, 2019 at Bethany Village.  Just shy of her 92nd birthday, Mary lived a long and full life. 

Born and raised on a farm in Fallsdale, PA, she was a lifelong resident of Wayne County.  She graduated from Damascus High School in 1945, and soon after married her high school sweetheart, Albert “Bus” Wilcox.  The lived on the Wilcox farm in Calkins, PA, where Mary resided until February of this year.

On the farm, they raised three boys, Dean Wilcox, Dale (Cindy) Wilcox, and Dennis (Jannette) Wilcox. Her boys were her pride and joy, despite the fact that she never got to use the name “Joanne” in naming her children.

Mary was known as a bundle of energy, even well into her senior years. She was a hard worker who did not know what it was to sit still. In addition to working on the family farm, a full-time job in and of itself, Mary wore different hats over the years that included working at the Katz factory in Honesdale, driving school bus, and serving as the tax collector for Damascus Township.

She was a faithful worker in her community. A long-time member of the Beach Lake United Methodist Church, she was active in many aspects of church life, including singing in the choir, participating in the UMW, sewing blankets in their ministry to the homeless, and pretty much anything that involved cooking and serving food. She was also active in the Ladies Aid, the Grange, and the Fire Company, just to name a few of the arenas that felt her touch over many, many years.

Mary loved to travel, and although she went everywhere from Hawaii to Ireland, Branson, Missouri was always her favorite destination, apart from home. She loved to play cards, particularly Phase 10, although we don’t know if she ever actually won a game. She loved music and flowers and snipping beans and jewelry and pants with elastic waistbands. She loved to cook and bake, and she was good at it! Her cookies often made her grandchildren quite popular in dorms at college, and her pies were the stuff dreams were made of.

But more than all of that, Mary loved her family. She loved to spend time with them, loved to feed them, loved to drive them a little bit crazy, loved to be surrounded by pictures of them, and once in a great while, loved to make excuses for them. In addition to her sons and daughters-in-law, Mary is survived by 10 grandchildren, Micah (Tracy) Wilcox, Amy (Brian) Gallagher, Ben Wilcox, Megan Wilcox, Seth (Libby) Wilcox, Stacy (Greg) Mikulak, Damon Wilcox, Sarai (Eric) Weber, Melissa (Zachary) Knapp, and Megan Rosler, 18 great grandchildren, 3  great, great grandchildren, and many, many nieces and nephews that she adored.

She was preceded in death by her husband Albert Wilcox, her parents Fred and Laura (Rolston) Coe, her mother and father-in-law John and Alma (Moules) Wilcox, her sister Dorothy Grady, her brother Robert Coe, and her daughter-in-law Margie Wilcox. 

Her family is grateful for her life and her love and her legacy, and they are also so grateful for the many, many friends who loved her back and visited, called, prayed for, and sent letters, over the last several months in particular.

The Funeral will be held on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 11 am at the Beach Lake United Methodist Church, 7 Milanville Road, Beach Lake, PA 18405 with Rev. Barbara Snyder officiating. 

Viewing will be at the Beach Lake United Methodist Church on Monday, August 12, 2019, from 4 pm until 8 pm, and on Tuesday from 10 am until the time of the funeral.

Interment will be Tuesday in Calkins Cemetery.

Arrangements are entrusted to Jenkins-Howell Funeral Home, Inc. Edward Howell, Funeral Director, 269 Belmont St. Waymart, PA 18472. www.JenkinsHowellFuneralHome.com