Page 33 - July Banner 2017_Neat
P. 33

Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com                       www.TheCatoctinBanner.com                          The Catoctin Banner Newspaper                                            July  2017            Page 33

                                    R        eminiscing...




                                                Life-Long Thurmont Resident Mary Virginia Henning Tortoro



                                       Francis A. Tortoro, Jr.


             My late mother, Mary Virginia Henning Tortoro, was born and raised in Thurmont and a life-long resident of the community. Over her ninety-four years of life, she
             witnessed many changes and progress that impacted our residents. She was a dedicated wife to my late father, Francis, who for over fifty-six years operated a one-
             chair barbershop from our home. She was also a devoted mother to my brother, David, and me. Her faith in God and love for her family was the cornerstone of her life.
             In memorial to my mother, I’ve prepared an essay depicting her early life in Thurmont, how she met my father, and how much love she had for her family. She was a
             most remarkable lady, definitely “old school” in many of her ways and was a member of “The Greatest Generation,” those who lived through the Great Depression
             and World War II Era. We, as a society, have lost so much of what they lived and stood for. We need to reclaim the values of the past if we are to have a secure future.



            August 22, 1922 – June 8, 2017        and South Altamont Avenue in an      resided with my grandfather on        she had before. Early in the morning
                                                  apartment owned by Mr. Rudolph       Church Street, where my father        on Thursday, June 8, 2017, she
               Mary Virginia Henning Tortoro      Tyler. To support themselves,        maintained his one-chair barbershop   quietly passed away.
            lived her entire life in Thurmont,    they worked at several factories,    at the front of the home. During         My mother’s utmost joy in life
            born and raised at The Shipley        among them the Cambridge             their time with my grandfather, I     has been providing for and taking
            Home, “along the avenue” on the       Rubber Company in Taneytown          was born in September of 1956.        loving care of her family. Every
            west side of Thurmont, at the base    during World War II, Claire Frock       In November 1958, we moved         summer, she planted a sizable garden
            of the Catoctin Mountains. Her        Company, and Thurmont Show           to our current home in Thurmont,      and enjoyed canning peaches, pears,
            parents, John F. and Fairy Dell Long   Company, and at canning factories   where we have resided for over        tomatoes, and green beans. She
            Henning, moved to the area from       at Orrtanna and Biglerville,         fifty-eight years, and where my       frequently said she was in her glory
            Virginia in 1919 to live with Mrs.    Pennsylvania and Thurmont. She       father continued to maintain his      providing for her family for the
            Henning’s sister and husband, Laura   last worked outside the home         barbershop until his retirement at    winter. She enjoyed working in the
            Long Merritt and Caleb Cornwall       during the summer of 1955 at the     the end of June 2008 at the age of    yard and even enjoyed shoveling
            Merritt, to assist them in managing   Thurmont Canning Company after       eighty-four, after over fifty-six years   snow in the winter, which she said
            their place, which at the time        she married my father.               in business. Following several health   she missed doing when she no
            consisted of over 500 acres of farm     In the early 1940s, prior to       issues over the years thereafter, and   longer could. She often spoke of
            and mountain lands.                   my father and parents moving         a year at the Glade Valley Center     her parents and of life at “The Big
               Mary Henning was an only           to Thurmont from Baltimore,          in Walkersville, he passed away on    House,” growing up at the Shipley
            daughter in a family of seven         Maryland, my grandfather, Frank      New Year’s Day 2012 at the age of     home and helping her father cut
            children, including her twin brother   J. Tortoro, an Italian immigrant    eighty-seven.                         wood, working their large gardens,
            Franklin, who died at age seven       and master stone cutter, began          Following my father’s passing, my   and raising chickens and her pet
            months. Mary and her brothers         employment at Hammaker Brothers      mother’s health gradually declined.   turkeys.
            all attended school in Thurmont.      Memorial in Thurmont, boarding       On the day after New Year’s 2015,        My brother David and I wish to
            She often walked the mile or so to    during the week at the home of       she suffered her first stroke. After   express our sincere appreciation to
            school, even in bitter cold and deep   Mr. and Mrs. George Fleagle,        a nearly two-month stay at the        the staff of the Glade Valley Center
            snow. She’s often related the story   located at 10 Church Street, who     Glade Valley Center, she made a full   and especially to those who attended
            of how after a winter snow storm, if   operated a boarding house and       recovery and returned home. In the    my mother on a daily basis in Haven
            not enough children got to school to   offered bountiful meals for the most   fall of 2015, she suffered a second,   Court, for the loving care they
            hold classes and school was closed,   reasonable cost of 50 cents. In 1945,   more serious, stroke, which after an   provided her, and for the friendships
            that her teacher, Miss Hodie Beard,   my grandfather decided to make the   additional three-month stay at Glade   she made that helped sustain her
            would send her and another pupil      move to Thurmont, where with his     Valley, she made another complete     throughout her stay.
            across the street to Charlie Hobbs’   wife, Anna, and my father Francis,   recovery.                                We also wish to express our
            store—now Hoffman’s Market—to         purchased a home at the corner of       In late winter of 2016, she        appreciation to all our family,
            buy sandwiches and crackers, for      Rt. 550 and Kelbaugh Road, which     experienced a fall from which she     friends, neighbors, and co-workers,
            which Miss Beard paid of her own      no longer stands. While the family   sustained fractures that necessitated   who have offered their prayers and
            money, so the class could at least    was visiting Thurmont making the     her permanent placement at the        support during this difficult time.
            have a small party before braving     arrangements, they ate at the Fleagle   Glade Valley Center. There, she was
            the elements to return home.          home, where in 1945 my father        attended once again as her previous
               A series of tragedies occurred     Francis first met my mother, who,    two visits, by many of the same
            for Mary’s family in the early        with her mother, ate lunch at the    staff who had cared for my father in
            1940s, when first their home “on      home as they worked at the time      2011. While under the professional
            the Avenue,” referred to as The       at the Thurmont Shoe Company,        and capable care of the Haven Court
            Big House, was destroyed by fire      then located just across the street   and Physical Therapy staffs, her
            in the fall of 1940, and in August    from the Fleagle home. However,      condition stabilized and improved.
            1943, when her father succumbed       not until returning to Baltimore     She made many friends at Glade
            to cancer at the age of fifty-four. As   in mid-1948 to learn the barber   Valley, among her fellow residents
            a  member of her extended family      profession, and subsequent return to   and staff, and was well thought of
            of aunts and uncles had also passed   Thurmont in late 1951 to open his    by all who came to know her.
            away, and her brothers married,       own barbershop at their home at 22      While at Glade Valley, she
            Mary and her mother sold the          Church Street, did he decide to court   suffered two additional strokes, the
            property and moved together into an   my mother in 1954, and they were     first from which she fully recovered.
            apartment in the home of Mr. and      married on April 24, 1955.           However, following the second in
            Mrs. John Stiles at 407 East Main       As my paternal grandmother         late April 2017, she was growing
            Street in Thurmont. Then later,       passed away in September of 1954,    weaker, and at the age of ninety-
            to the corner of West Main Street     my parents upon their marriage       four, was unable to move back as
   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38