Mary Jane Kemmer

Mary Jane Kem­mer, age 82, for­merly of Card­ing­ton, died peace­fully on Fri­day morn­ing, August 31, 2012, at her home at the Kingston Res­i­dence in Mar­ion sur­rounded by her lov­ing fam­ily fol­low­ing an extended ill­ness. On August 17, 1930, Mary Jane was born at home on the fam­ily farm in Chester­ville, the sec­ond of six chil­dren of the late Albert and Flo­rence (Reynolds) Nau­man. She grad­u­ated from Chester­ville High School in the Class of 1948.

Shortly fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion, Mary Jane mar­ried a young gen­tle­man who had already returned home from serv­ing his coun­try in World War II, Cur­tis Car­roll “Jack” Kem­mer, on Feb­ru­ary 11, 1949, at the Chester Bap­tist Church. Always hand in hand, together they shared over sixty two won­der­ful years of mar­riage, and lov­ingly raised three chil­dren: Den­nis, Becky and Vicki. He pre­ceded her in death on April 9, 2011.

For the first few years of their mar­riage, Mary Jane and Jack lived in Mount Ver­non, where she worked as a tele­phone oper­a­tor for the Gen­eral Tele­phone Com­pany, until they found the farm of their dreams in Card­ing­ton, where they resided for nearly the rest of their lives.

A lov­ing home­maker, Mary Jane took the very best care of her hus­band and chil­dren and their home. She kept such a tidy home that she even had a “no dirty clothes” rule, where as soon as some­one was done wear­ing some­thing it imme­di­ately would be washed and returned to it’s proper place. She also was a won­der­ful cook, always mak­ing her family’s favorite meals.

When her chil­dren were in high school, Mary Jane returned to work at the Chester­ville Nurs­ing Home, doing what she was best at, car­ing for the needs of oth­ers. Later, she also worked for many years at the Leaf Restau­rant, where she was their host­ess, wait­ress, and catch all per­son, doing any­thing the Gordon’s asked her to do. She was a hard work­ing woman, who always gave every­thing her all.

A woman of faith, Mary Jane was a devoted mem­ber of the Chester Bap­tist Church, where she used to play the piano.

Always fuss­ing over you, as soon as you became a friend of Mary Jane, she would treat you as if you were fam­ily. She had a heart of gold, and always showed you how much she cared for you with her hands, tak­ing care of you any way she could.

Mary Jane will be dearly missed by her three chil­dren: Den­nis (Car­olyn) Kem­mer of Mar­ion, Becky (Ray­mond) Erick­son of Wood­stock, Geor­gia, and Vicki (Kent) Dyer of Char­lotte, North Car­olina; three grand­sons: Nathan Erick­son, Adam Dyer, and Jonathan Dyer; three great-grandchildren: Caleigh Grace, Andrew Cur­tis, and Caitlin Eliz­a­beth Dyer; two sis­ters and one brother: Betty Stevens of Mar­ion, Anna Mae Sher­man of Lex­ing­ton, and Ken­neth Nau­man of Mount Ver­non; and numer­ous nieces and nephews.

Includ­ing her hus­band and par­ents, Mary Jane was pre­ceded in death by two broth­ers: Paul and Harold Nauman.

The Kem­mer fam­ily will greet friends from 4 – 7 p.m. on Tues­day, Sep­tem­ber 4, 2012, at the Sny­der Funeral Home, Craven Chapel, 67 N. Main St., Mount Gilead. Ser­vices cel­e­brat­ing her life will also be held there on Wednes­day at 11:00 a.m., with her niece Julie Stevens offi­ci­at­ing. Bur­ial will fol­low in Maple Grove Ceme­tery in Chesterville.

Memo­r­ial con­tri­bu­tions may be made in care of Acclaim Hos­pice or the Kingston Res­i­dence Mem­ory Care Unit, c/o Bak­ing Classes, and they may be sent to the care of the funeral home.

Her fam­ily would like to extend a heart­felt “thank you” to Mary Jane’s sis­ter, Betty, always being there for her and tak­ing her to church as often as she could. They also would like to thank all of the staff at the Kingston Res­i­dence Mem­ory Care Unit and Acclaim Hos­pice for their ten­der and lov­ing care of Mary Jane.

Sny­der Funeral Homes of Mount Gilead is hon­ored to have been cho­sen to serve Mary Jane’s fam­ily and your pri­vate con­do­lences may be expressed to them by vis­it­ing www.snyderfuneralhomes.com.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Aug 31 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.