Penn Hills woman recalled for considering others’ well-being
Mary Sterrett never let what was considered “normal” at the time stop her from doing what she wanted to do.
Ms. Sterrett, 98, of Penn Hills, grew up in a time when many women did not enroll in college to stay home and raise children. By the time she got married in the late 1940s, however, she already had served as an officer in the Navy and received a master’s degree.
Ms. Sterrett died on July 2 after battling leukemia. One of her daughters said that even in old age Ms. Sterrett never lost the youthful air she had her entire life.
“She was just as sharp as whenever. She still had her mind,” said Ms. Sterrett’s fourth eldest child, Betsy Tassaro of Rosslyn Farms.
About two months before her death, Ms. Sterrett went to Magee Marsh near Lake Erie to pursue her love of bird-watching. She continued to drive until age 95, and enjoyed traveling through the U.S. and Canada in her motor home.
During World War II, Ms. Sterrett joined the Naval Intelligence Department in Annapolis, Md. After the war she attended the University of Pittsburgh and earned her master’s in retail merchandising.
While working at the Mellon Institute she joined the Edgewood Supper Club, where she met her husband, Charles Sterrett. They married in 1947.
Ms. Tassaro described her mother as strongwilled, but not domineering. She said Ms. Sterrett was quick to tell people what she wanted or where she wanted to go, and enjoyed days spent shopping or going out to lunch.
“She showed her love in different ways,” Ms. Tassaro said.
One of those ways was by helping others. This included school nights spent working on chemistry, math and English assignments with her six children. Those assignments led her to pursue a substitute teaching career in the Penn Hills School District.
Her son, Chuck Sterrett, recalled one day during the last weeks of Ms. Sterrett’s life, when a caregiver wrapped blankets around her on a chilly morning and asked if she was warm enough. After a moment, Ms. Sterrett asked the caregiver the same question.
“My mother always considered others’ well-being before her own,” he said. “Whether it was hours at swim practice, nights helping with homework or the well-being of those caring for her, my mother always made sure that others would have their needs fulfilled.”
Ms. Sterrett’s youngest daughter, Nancy Kacin of Murrysville, said her mother led by example instead of words. Her home was near Ms. Sterrett’s, and the proximity led to a close friendship between the pair.
One of Ms. Kacin’s favorite memories with her mother was when Ms. Sterrett, Ms. Kacin and Ms. Kacin’s husband, Richard, went away for a long weekend. Ms. Sterrett had gone to a yarn store to buy supplies so they could knit socks during the trip.
After three days of fumbling with small needles, extra-thin yarn and a confusing instruction booklet, both women became extremely frustrated and neither had made much progress on the socks.
“It is the only time in my life I saw her lose it. We were at the [Deer Valley YMCA] camp on the couch in front of the fire, starting over for the umpteenth time and she blurted out ‘I’m so stupid!’” Ms. Kacin said, adding that those close to Ms. Sterrett would know that that was “not her style.”
“If I needed a title for her life, it would be ‘The dropped stitch didn’t matter,’” Ms. Kacin said. “She figured she would fix it later — or maybe not.
That exemplifies how I saw her live her life; she lived in the present, never looking back for mistakes and never worrying too much about what might be ahead.”
In addition to Ms. Tassaro and Ms. Kacin, Ms. Sterrett is survived by daughters Susie Solomon of Squirrel Hill and Maggie Jayson of Washington Landing; sons Chuck Sterrett of Sanibel Island, Fla., and Bill Sterrett of Baltimore.
She also is survived by 18 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held at Penn Hills’ Mount Hope Community Church. Memorial donations may be made to the church.