Mary Eldridge : Obituary

On March 2, 2012 Mary Jo Fager Young Eldridge, age 91,went home to be with her Lord. Those of us who survive her, and who were deeply blessed by her life, celebrate her. She was born in Payne , Ohio in 1920 to Helen Cole Fager and Edward D. Fager.

In 1938 she graduated from high school in Akron, Ohio as the Salutatorian and in 1942 from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. While at Heidelberg, Mary Jo was honored as both a Homecoming Queen and as a May Queen. She was known for both her external and internal beauty, but she was also a scholar. She was fluent in Latin after eight years of study.

Upon her college graduation, Mary Jo married Gilbert S. Young, who embarked on a career in the U.S. Navy, which involved numerous moves. Mary Jo was a loving, dedicated, supportive wife and mother, attributes for which her children remain grateful. Besides her devotion to her family, Mary Jo taught English at the middle and high school levels. She was also a tireless volunteer, becoming president of the Washington, D.C. Navy Wives’ Club, working with the Salvation Army on charitable and fund-raising projects, helping hospitalized people and their families through the Stephen’s Ministry and as a pastoral counselor, working with numerous churches through their women’s ministries and as a Sunday school/Bible teacher, and volunteering as a teacher for literacy programs that helped people finish their GEDs and to learn English as a second language.

Mary Jo is pre-deceased by her parents, her first husband, Capt. Gilbert S.Young, USN and by her second husband, Thomas R. Eldridge, to whom she was wed in 1989. She is also pre-deceased by her one sister, Jean Fager Sitler and by two grandsons, Timothy Alan Breece and Matthew Eric Breece.

She is survived by two sisters, Elizabeth Fager Bartels and Charlotte Fager Benton; by her four children and their spouses, Anne Elizabeth Young Breece Kerr (Gary), Robert Eliot Young (Nancy), Janie Young Payne (Jim), and Marguerite Young Keller (Paul); by seven grandchildren, Mark Breece, Nathan Young, Jodi Payne Perry, Peter Young, Joan Payne Siler, Joseph Keller, and Daniel Keller, three step-grandchildren, John Kerr, Jenny Eul Michael, Ryan Eul; and by eight great-grandchildren, Tyler Breece, Nathan Breece, Jonathan Perry, Matthew Perry, Tristan Siler, Aaron Perry, Brooklyn Siler, and Makayla Siler. Thank you, Mary Jo, for a life thoughtfully and lovingly lived.

Services will be at a later date in Ohio. Arrangements entrusted to the Finch-Cochran Funeral Home in McCaysville, Ga. You may send condolences to the family and sign the guest registry online at www.cochranfuneralhomes.com.