Mary Ann Davis
Mary Ann after
riding a mule up the mountain on Santorini in the Greek Islands on 22 September
2005
Mary Ann Davis Keefe
As Mary Ann Davis, I joined the LAHS Class of 1956, in the fall of 1953, when my family moved back to Lansdowne from northern New Jersey. My parents, John F. Davis and Mary Elizabeth Stevenson, graduated from LHS in 1930 and 1931. I had quite a few teachers who had taught my parents—Miss Cook, Miss Hoopes, Mrs. Morris, Mr. Epley, etc. Following graduation from LAHS, I attended Grove City College in western Pennsylvania, graduating in 1960 with a BS in Chemistry. At that time I had also taken courses at Drexel and St. Joseph's. For three years I worked as a chemist for the Armstrong Research Lab in Lancaster.
In November 1961, I married Thomas D. Keefe, and in 1963 we moved to East Lansdowne, just before Nora Elizabeth was born in August 1963. Our second daughter, Amy Michele arrived in December 1964. Nora and her husband Chuck have two sons, Chad and Zachary, both of whom graduated from Juniata High School. Nora teaches secondary social studies, and Amy, (Grove City College '86, MS in Business from St. Joseph's) is an office administrator.
In 1969 we moved to a small farm outside Boyertown. We did not farm, but had lots of animals. The Girl Scouts camped in our orchard. In 1988, we down-sized to a small ranch house in Gilbertsville, where I hope to remain for the rest of my days. After almost 38 years of marriage, my dear Tom passed away in September 1999. The 90's into 2003, were care-taking years for Tom, my Dad and his youngest sister.
Until the girls were well into junior high, I did various volunteer activities—Get-Set, school library, reading tutor, tape recording math texts for a blind professor at Villanova, teaching Sunday and Vacation Bible School, and being a Girl Scout leader. Periodically I took courses at various colleges, beginning with Russian at Franklin and Marshall while I was with Armstrong.
I received my secondary mathematics certification from Kutztown, and then taught math at several levels in Boyertown, including GED preparation. Presently I have an adult literacy student and am involved in adult Bible Study. Currently I am leading a study of Matthew. Seems I am always involved in Bible Study. My up-coming project is New Testament Greek at Biblical Theological Seminary. After teaching at Boyertown a number of years, I worked for a national payroll and tax company. I retired as an employer tax penalty specialist in June 2004.
Reading has always been a favorite pastime—taught my girls to read before they entered school, and collected many books. My sister has commented that I have the greatest collection of unreadable books she has ever seen. Sewing and knitting are other leisure pursuits. Presently I knit lots of sweaters for the "Guideposts" Children's Sweater Project.
Travel continues to be enjoyable—visiting relatives, genealogy research, a month long piggy-back camper trip in 1977 to California and back, Tom's ship reunions (He served on the USS Belleau Wood in the Pacific in WWII), western Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, Calgary Stampede, Caribbean. Somehow, I have never been in Oregon though. Tom loved riding old steam trains, and I became fascinated with genealogy. Just ask me about it!
When the girls studied French in school, we hosted three French exchange students three different summers. Nora and Amy each went to France, and later had several trips abroad in college. My sister and I went to England, France and Belgium in 1981 when Amy was playing in the Boyertown High School band. We spent two lovely weeks in Newfoundland in the early '90's.
I think I was green when Nora visited Greece while at Messiah College; I had my trip there in the fall of 2005. [The picture is after riding a mule up the mountain on Santorini Island, Greece.]
In 1998, Tom gave me a trip to Israel with friends at church. What a wonderful trip! To walk where Jesus walked, to be baptized in the Jordan as He was—I long for another trip there. After Tom died I did travel again overseas—Kenya and Tanzania, Sicily, Ireland (with Priscilla), Spain and Portugal, and finally my trip to Greece, following the footsteps of St.Paul. After my coming year of Greek, my niece and I want to visit Australia and New Zealand.
I really enjoy retirement. One thing I was sure uncoordinated me would never do—exercise. Now I do it five days a week at the Y, plus I do my own yard work. I am ready to travel as there is so much more to experience. In Israel I rode a camel, haven't had an elephant ride yet, but should as I live with about 200 of them. Many years ago my paternal grandfather gave me the original three elephants. The largest is some kind of stone, ~2-1/2", beige, the medium one is a darkish metal, and the smallest metal painted white. The 200 include a pink plush (the largest from a flea market), one made of coal, wicker, marble, blue suede, pendants, charms, ivory, crystal, silver, a nightlight, some of the soft ones trumpet, a silver one the size of my thumb nail (the smallest), several Harmony Family boxes and a teapot, a silver ring, and they came from all over. Tom did not care for flowers, so sometimes gave me elephants. It is an unusual collection, and if you look carefully on Friday evening, I will most likely be wearing one or two.
God bless, Mary Ann