Mary L. Silling

Mary Lewis Silling, of Joppa, Maryland, was called from this life on December 27, 2016, fifty-eight days after her one-hundredth birthday.

The third of four children born to Joseph Horace Lewis, a Jerusalem Village farmer, and his wife Edna McCourtney Lewis, she grew up on the family farm adjacent to the general store owned by her grandfather, Samuel Oliver McCourtney. In later life, she would travel to Ireland to trace her McCourtney roots.

As a girl growing up, she enjoyed helping her grandparents at the store and playing tennis with her siblings. At some point during the 1930's, she learned to drive her grandfather's Model A.

Mary married Paul L. Silling in 1939 and went to work at the Edgewood Arsenal division of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Paul was called to military service in World War II and Mary, never one to sit idle, learned to fly and earned a private pilot's license while he was away. After the war, the couple purchased the home in Joppa where they lived until Paul's death in 1993 and where she continued to live until her death.

Always in motion, Mary was a 4-H leader for thirty years and many Harford County 4-Hers of several generations still affectionately called her "Aunt Mary." In 1994 she was declared a Harford Living Treasure. She was a founding member of Grandview Christian Church in Fallston, Maryland, and remained an active member throughout her life. After she retired from APG in 1972, she remained active in the Susquehanna Chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association and was a participating member of the Historical Society of Harford County, Friends of Jerusalem Mill, the Harford County Stamp Club, the Harford Bird Club, Wilna Homemakers and other local organizations.

Among others mourning her loss are numerous nieces and nephews and their families.

Memorial contributions may be made to Friends of Jerusalem Mill, 2813 Jerusalem Road, Kingsville, MD 21087 or Grandview Christian Church, 2022 Fallston Road, Fallston, MD 21047.