Mary Louise Killen
Mary Louise Killen, formerly of Sherman Avenue, Waynesburg, passed away Wednesday, October 30, 2019, in Matthews, N.C., at the age of 100. She was born June 18, 1919, in Ninevah, Greene County, a daughter of W. Ray and Clara King Inghram, descendants of pioneer families of Greene County.
Mary Louise was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Don Edwin Killen; and her sister, Francis H. Gensler.
She was a 1937 graduate of Waynesburg High School and a 1941 graduate of Waynesburg College, where she met her husband. She was an honor student and Waynesburg College May Queen in 1941. She was the first woman to enroll in Waynesburg College’s Student Pilot Training Course; she did so without the knowledge of her parents, who much to their chagrin, learned of it from a newspaper article. She won the Women’s Spot Landing Trophy at the Waynesburg Airport Air Show July 1941.
Following graduation, she earned a graduate degree in medical technology from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where she married her husband December 23, 1942, prior to him shipping out to the Pacific Theatre.
Mary Louise operated the medical laboratory for Drs. Austin, Bartholomew, Powell, Stitt and Walker in Waynesburg for many years. She then worked as an “out-of-town” shopper for Kaufmann’s Department Store in Pittsburgh.
She was an avid photographer and an accomplished painter in oils and watercolor in addition to tole painting.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Waynesburg and an active member of the Service League and the Twentieth Century Club; she enjoyed water skiing as well as cross-country skiing.
She leaves a son, Don E. Killen II and his, wife Lucy Fortino of Bethlehem; and two daughters, Daphna L. Blair and Layne L. Killen of Matthews, N.C. She leaves three grandchildren, Dwight I. and his wife, Melissa Simmons Blair, of Wilmington, N.C., Tristan L. Samson of Charlotte, N.C., and Mara D. and her husband, Devon Shedlock, of San Diego, Calif. In addition, she had six great-grandchildren, Grant, Reed and Cole Samson, Bryan and Abigail Blair, and Callan Shedlock.