BIRTH: Mary was born at 690 Center St., Millersburg, Dauphin Co., PA, a bungalow her parents owned across the street from the Millersburg High School. She was the first and only child of Lloyd and Estella. She was christened in St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Millersburg on April 18, 1914.
HOMES: The family lived in Millersburg for only a few years. In 1918, her father, Lloyd Billow, developed heart problems after he survived a bout of Spanish Flu. The doctor recommended warmer weather for improving his health, and so Mary moved with her parents to Miami FL for about three years. Because they were all homesick, they moved back north and purchased 316 West Lemon Street, Lancaster, PA, where her maternal grandmother, Mary Heisler Kaufman already resided. Mary Kaufman lived the remainder of her life living with Estella, Lloyd, and Mary. Several years later, Grandpa Wes Billow died, leaving her Grandma Susan Jane Billow alone at the small farmette they had purchased at 206-212 Fairview Street of Mount Joy several years earlier. The present 212 house was actually the barn to 206 house. Lloyd and Estella decided to move the barn onto a newly dug foundation and have it renovated into a house, so they could help Grandma Billow. Estella and Lloyd lived at 212 Fairview Street the remainder of their lives. Mary and Linn lived there with her parents at the beginning of their marriage. After Sylvia arrived, they rented the bungalow right up the road at 304 Fairview Street that belonged to Linn's parents, Wm and Barbara Longenecker. During this time, Mary and Linn designed the house they built next door at 201 Birchland Avenue. The plot was a part of the small farm that Wm Longenecker owned and sold off into lots for homes. Because of Mary's input, white birch trees were planted on each side of the street the entire length. She was the one who named the street Birchland Avenue; however, as years went by, the trees got a blight, and they all had to be removed.
EDUCATION: Mary attended Lancaster City Schools and graduated from Girls' High on Charlotte/Chestnut Streets of Lancaster, PA. in 1932.
Mary attended Millersville Normal School from 1932-1936. She graduated with a degree in elementary education and was valedictorian.
OCCUPATION: Before marriage and until Sylvia was born, Mary taught in the Stevens' Elementary School, Lancaster PA (the same school that formerly had been Girls' High). After Sylvia was born, Mary was a stay-at-home mother.
APPREARANCE AND DISPOSITION: Mary a lovely woman, about 5'3," medium build. She had beautiful long black hair that her mother painstakingly did in rag curls until she was a teen. At that point, she kept her long hair, but often pulled it back into a barrett. Either during college, or when she started teaching, she finally cut her hair and had it permed. Later on, when it was fashionable to wrap one's hair around a roll, she wore her hair like that for many years. Mary was an intelligent, talented, very personable woman with a strong personal commitment to Jesus Christ, her church, her family and her friends. She was well-liked by mostly everyone with whom she came in contact. She was musically talented and played mandolin and flute as a young girl. She continued playing her flute into her young adulthood. She often played concerts at nursing homes, garden parties, etc. Mary was also artistically talented. She made a small business of creating hand-sewn organdy hostess aprons and painting beautiful bouquets of flowers on them. She sewed her own drapes, made a gorgeous taffeta red plaid bedspread, curtains, etc. for the master bedroom, upholstered matching furniture, etc. Mary also enjoyed entertaining at her home: small dinner parties, or large events serving several hundred guests.
CHURCHES: During her early years, her family attended St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Millersburg PA. After her family moved to Lancaster, PA, they attended St. John's Lutheran Church. When they moved to Mount Joy about 1935, they joined St. Mark's United Brethren Church. Mary was the senior choir director there for several years and served as a teacher for a large women's class. Linn also attended St. Mark's after they were married. However, when Sylvia was born, Mary decided to join Linn's home church, Florin Church of the Brethren. Mary served as a chorister and directed the young adult chorus there. She and Linn taught the youth during Bible School each year. She always led the singing for the large-group assemblies of about 400 children following the Bible School sessions. Linn and Mary were called to be deacons only a short time before she was diagnosed with cancer of the colon.
ILLNESS and DEATH: Sylvia Marie was born in 1947 -- Robert Wm in 1955. One year later, in 1955, Gloria Louise was born. During the C-section, they discovered Mary had cancer of the colon. She endured 9 major surgeries and fought valiently during the next two years, but tragedically, she died on June 6, 1958 in her parents' home, 212 Fairivew Street, Mount Joy, PA. Her death was a tremendous loss to her young family.