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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