May Elizabeth Slagle, died on Sunday October 24, 2015. In late August, she was hospitalized and thereafter was unable to return to her home.
She died quietly in the home of her niece, Brenda Slagle-McQuown, at the age of 92.
The end of her life marks the end of her immediate family.
May Elizabeth was born on April 26, 1923.
She was delivered in the family home and she resided her entire life in that same home on Summit St., in Brookville, PA, where her parents Charles and Marie (Manners) Slagle, reared 3 children.
May had two older brothers, Charles P. Slagle and Harry Richard Slagle.
She graduated from Brookville High School in 1941, in the same class as her older brother Charles.
She immediately entered the world of work beginning at Sylvania in Brookville, and stayed until the plant closed in the mid 60’s.
She continued in similar type work in Reynoldsville, until those plants also closed. Finally, May worked for and became a friend of Wes King.
She baked hundreds of pies and Wes’s famous cloverleaf rolls at the American Hotel Interchange Restaurant.
While retired, she lived a very quiet life at home where she enjoyed hours of television, visits from her neighbors, friends and family.
She had several friends who telephoned frequently and were an important, but unseen, presence in her daily life.
The Brookville First United Methodist Church kept May’s faith fed through visits, communion, newsletters and other media.
May never married. She lived with and cared for her mother Marie until Marie’s death in the family home on Summit Street.
May came from a truly military family. Her uncle Bill was at Gettysburg in 1863; he is named in Kate Scott’s history of Pennsylvania. When he returned post-war, he lived with May’s family. Both of her brothers, Dick and Charles, served during World War II. Charles received the Purple Heart and was seriously wounded during the Battle of the Bulge.
May and her mother traveled by train several times to visit Charles after his leg amputation at the Army Hospital, FT Pickett, VA. May’s great gifts were love and generosity. Throughout her life she smiled often, cried infrequently, and gave gifts generously to her family, neighbors and friends. Her brothers’ children and their children became May Slagle’s family.
May was an aunt to 6, a great-aunt to 13, and a great-great-aunt to 9. She loved to decorate for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and many other holidays. She and her mother hosted many parties over nearly 100 years.
She dies having contributed greatly to the rich fabric of small town American life. Family and friends will be received on Saturday, October 31, 2015, from 11am – 2pm, at the McKinney – d’Argy Funeral Home, 345 Main Street, Brookville PA, 15825.
A funeral service will immediately follow, beginning at 2pm, with the Rev.
Glenn McQuown officiating. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to the First United Methodist Church on Jefferson St., Brookville PA, 15825, or to Visiting Nurses Association, 154 Hindman Rd., Butler, PA, 16001.
Online condolences and other information may be found at www.mckinneydargy.com.
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