Mary passed away peacefully in her own home on her son and daughter-in-law’s farm in southern Huntingdon County near Maddensville, PA. She had resided with them there for the last 29 years, and was 104 years old.
She was born in the working-class neighborhood of Roxborough, Philadelphia, where her parents and grandparents lived. She was the second of five children of Roy and Ethelinda (Snear) March. They later moved north to Stowe, PA, near Pottstown. There she grew up, went to school, played field hockey, ice-skated on Manatawny Creek, competed in spelling bees, enjoyed the traveling circus that would come to town each year, and learned how to play piano, which she would do until she turned 100.
In 1937 she graduated from Pottstown High. Her first job was in a local linen mill where she was a secretary and swimsuit model. She would continue to work as a secretary for 37 years.
In 1942 she married Werner Banicke in Norfolk, VA, where he was serving in the US Navy. She worked there in an office of the Naval Yard. When his ship, the USS Franklin, steamed for the Pacific in 1944, she caught a troop train West to the SF Bay Area to be closer to his new home base. She quickly got a job at the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard. In early 1945 Werner’s ship suffered major damage in an air attack near Okinawa and he was lost at sea.
Mary stayed in Alameda and went to work at the Oakland Navy Yard. She took up bowling and horseback riding on the weekends. And she met and married William A. (Bill) Treichler in 1951. Bill was a WW2 Army vet, then serving in the US Navy, and based at the Alameda Naval Air Station. He later became a Senior Engineer for Pacific Bell Telephone. The couple had two children, and loved taking cross-country family trips in their camper, eventually visiting 27 states and Canada. Bill passed away in 1976.
Mary continued her secretarial work for the Alameda Unified School District, spending the last 15 years in the office of Encinal High School.
In 1995 Mary returned to Pennsylvania and lived on her son’s farm with his wife, Chris, and their three children. For the last 10 years, Chris’ sister Kathy Gerard helped greatly with Mary’s care.
Mary was of the Christian faith. She attended church and studied her bible lessons for most of her life.
She was preceded in death by her two husbands, brothers Roy, Jr. and Harry, sister Ruth, and a number of nieces and nephews.
Mary is survived by her sister Lois Hasselhan of Douglassville, PA; son Randy Treichler and his wife Chris of Maddensville, PA; and daughter Ann Allen of Three Springs, PA. Grandchildren include Amanda Allen, Jack Treichler and partner Farrah, Natalie Bezeck and husband Jake, Anna Treichler and partner Kevin, and Samuel Treichler. She has two great-grandchildren, Jonathan and Eleanor Bezeck, and is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews and their spouses.
Per Mary’s request, there will be no funeral or public viewing. She will be interred with her husband Bill in Afton, IA, where he and his parents are buried.
The family has entrusted Mary’s care to Kelso-Cornelius Funeral Home in McConnellsburg, PA.
Online condolences may be expressed at the funeral home’s website.
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