Mary Catherine Suttles

Mary Catherine Suttles (nee Joefreda), 91, of Lewisburg, PA, died Monday, May 9, 2022.  She came into the world Jan. 12, 1931, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Matthew E. Joefreda and Catherine Joefreda (nee Dichito) and joining her older brother, Matthew E. Joefreda Jr.  Her mother died of illness when Mary was 8.  In 1940, her father married Marie Handloser of Dayton. 

Mary graduated from Fairview High School in Dayton in 1949 and attended Ohio University for one semester before moving back to her parents’ home on Overland Trail in Kettering, Oh, and starting her career doing bookwork for her father’s wholesale produce business in Dayton.  Her father died when Mary was 27. 

She did office work for National Cash Register in Dayton, where she met and James R. Buck of Washington Township, OH, whom she married in 1960.  Her son, James H. Buck, was born two years later in Sidney, OH, where Mary worked as a housewife, mother, and office clerk for the Girl Scouts USA. 

Following the end of her first marriage, she moved back to the Dayton area, to a home on Far Hills Ave in Oakwood, and began working as a bookkeeper for Premier Corp., the window manufacturing firm founded by her brother in Moraine, OH.  After Premier was purchased by a competitor, she worked at New Deal Tool & Machine Co in Dayton. 

In 1985, she married William Frank Suttles, and they resided in Oakwood until his passing in 2003.  They were members of Christ United Methodist Church in Kettering.  They enjoyed traveling and golfing together as well as being engaged with their children, grandchildren, and other members of their extended family.

Her step-mother passed away in 1987.  She lost her beloved brother in 2011.

Mary moved to Lewisburg, PA, in 2011, to be closer to her son; her daughter-in-law, Paula Closson Buck; her grandson, Conrad J. Buck; and her “co-mother-in-law,” Shirley Closson.  She served as treasurer of the League of Women Voters of the Lewisburg Area and a volunteer for AID Lewisburg.  In her later years, she loved gardening, playing bridge, cats, reading, puzzling, relaxing with family, and “not exercising.”

She is survived by her son, Jim Buck and his wife, Paula, both of Lewisburg; her grandson, Conrad Buck of Lewisburg; her nephews, Matt Joefreda of Ormond Beach, FL, and Mark Joefreda of Waynesville, OH; her nieces, Anne Wagner of West Chester, OH, and Cathy Joefreda-Taylor of Waynesville; her stepdaughter, Kerry Suttles of Oakwood; her stepson, Rick Suttles of Dayton; her step-granddaughter, Zara Bennett of Los Angeles; and her two step-great-grandchildren of Los Angeles. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; her step-mother, her brother, her first and second husbands; and her stepson, Bill Suttles.

Warm and generous by nature, she was a patient listener who always responded with words of encouragement. 

Interment will take place at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton.

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