Obituaries

Mary Ann Walsh, age 59, died peacefully on Wednesday morning surrounded by her loving family and friends. She was the daughter of Frank and the late Mary Therese Walsh. Mary Ann was a graduate of South Catholic High School. She graduated from Marywood College with a Degree in Early Childhood Education and received her Masters Degree from the George Peabody School for Teachers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
She taught in the Scranton School District for 35 years, teaching preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade. From 1977-1994, she taught in the gifted program while always guiding and challenging the brightest young minds. In 1994, she returned to the preschool classroom which she dearly loved, completing her career at Neil Armstrong Elementary School.
A Karate instructor at the YMCA since 1977, she earned the rank of 8th degree black belt, becoming the first woman to ever acheive this rank. She was the first woman promoted to master instructor in the history of Moo Duk Kwan. She was a member of the U.S. Soo Bahk Do Federation, serving two terms as Chairman of the Board. She was a member of the prestigious Technical Advisory Committee and was featured in Black Belt Magazine.
She was a remarkable woman who touched many lives with her quick wit and dry sense of humor.
In addition to her father, she is survived by her two loving daughters, Katharine Stine and husband Scott and Jennifer Egan and husband Sean; two brothers, Frank Walsh and wife Julie, and Joseph Walsh and wife Debby; three sisters, Therese Neary and husband Jack, Margie Briskey and husband Jerry, and Sharon Finnerty and husband Paul; many loving nieces and nephews; a special aunt, Nan Powell, and uncle, Tom Walsh and aunt, Claire; and a core group of girlfriends who were with her until the end.
The joys of her life were her grandchildren, Max Stine and Elizabeth Egan, who both delighted her beyond belief.
Her family would like to acknowledge and thank her angel and care giver, Jadwiga Wojnarowski; her wonderful doctors, Dr. Mary Ann McDonald, Dr. Michael Kondash and Dr. Murray Grossman from the University of Pennsylvania; and Nina Flanigan, N.P.
A special thanks must be given to the wonderful and caring staff of Mountain View Care Center who treated her with kindness and dignity during her stay.
As Mary Ann believed her funeral should be a celebration of her life, those attending are asked to wear brightly colored clothes.
Funeral services are scheduled to begin on Saturday at 8:45AM from the Kearney Funeral Home, Inc., 125 North Main Avenue, Scranton, with a 9:30AM Mass of Christian Burial in Nativity of Our Lord Church at St. John Neuman Parish, to be celebrated by Rev. Michael Bryant, Pastor.
Interment will follow in the Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton.
Relatives and friends may pay their respects on Friday between 4-8:00PM at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Mary Ann’s name to St. John Neuman Parish, 633 Orchard Street, Scranton, 18503, or to the donor’s favorite charity.