Mary Ann Yockey

Mary Ann Yockey, of Bel Air, MD, who was a model and Realtor, died on April 23 of complications of dementia at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium, Maryland. She was 82.

Mrs. Yockey was born on August 15, 1923, in Jellico, TN, to the late John Wesley and Laura Parton Leach. She was the eighth of 11 children. She was the wife of nuclear physicist and pioneer in bioinformatics, Hubert P. Yockey. They would have celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on June 9.

Mrs. Yockey attended the University of Kentucky, then headed to New York City at the age of 19 or 20 and studied at the Barbizon School of Modeling. She worked briefly as a model for major magazines such as Cosmopolitan, then headed back home to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where she worked with her father and sister, Maycille, on the Manhattan Project as a technician separating the isotope uranium-235 from uranium ore. U-235 was required for the atom bombs that ended World War II in August 1945.

As the most beautiful woman working on the Manhattan Project, she quickly attracted the handsomest man there, Hubert P. Yockey, who was fresh out the University of California at Berkeley with a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. They were married on June 9, 1946, in Oakland, CA.

In the 1940s and early 50s, Mrs. Yockey owned and ran a modeling school. She worked as a wife and mother from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, then became a Realtor soon after moving from Los Angeles, CA, to Bel Air in 1964 with her husband and three children.

Working with attorney and developer Philip O. Tilghman in the 1960s, Mrs. Yockey developed two sections of Windemere, a prestigious residential development in Phoenix, MD. She also gave her son, Franklin Yockey, his start in the building business. In the 1980s, she worked with Franklin in his custom home construction company, Hometown Builders. Mrs. Yockey was successful in both residential and commercial real estate sales for almost 30 years as a Realtor with Grempler Realty. She retired from real estate in 1996.

Mrs. Yockey is survived by her husband, Dr. Hubert P. Yockey, of Bel Air, MD; her son, Franklin Yockey, of Baltimore, MD; her daughter, Cynthia Yockey, of Belcamp, MD; her grandson, Eric Alexander Yockey, of Baltimore, MD; her sisters, Maycille Simon, of Lexington, KY, and Emily Waybright, of Rehobeth Beach, DE; her devoted caregiver, Maggie Byrd, of Bel Air, MD, whom she helped raise and who was like a daughter to her; and many nieces and nephews. Her son, Eric Milton Yockey, died in a car accident on August 22, 1973, at the age of 18. His death was made even more traumatic because although she didn’t recognize the wrecked car, she stopped to check on the accident but was not allowed to see him before he was taken by helicopter to Maryland’s new Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

The viewing was held on April 25 at the McComas Funeral Home in Abingdon, MD. The funeral service will be at 11 am on Wednesday, April 26, at the same location. Interment will follow at the Thomas Run Methodist Church, one of the oldest Methodist churches in Maryland dating back to the 1700s, off of Thomas Run Road in Bel Air.

Contributions may be made to the Thomas Run Methodist Church Foundation, 2418 Thomas Run Road, Bel Air, MD 21015, in care of Hope Ruff. Or contributions may be made to Community Hospice of Maryland, 9940 Franklin Square Drive, Suite K, Baltimore, MD 21236. Please note that the donation is in memory of Mary Ann Yockey and whether the donor would like an acknowledgement notice sent to her family.