- Date Of Death: October 16, 2019
- State: New Jersey
Mary Adela McIntyre, born Zuczek, died peacefully on October 16 at the Riverview Estates in Riverton, N.J. following the effect of a brain aneurysm suffered while on vacation with her family in New Orleans on December 26, 2003.
She was 96 years old. Mary’s first job was at her family’s mom-and-pop grocery, Zuczek Meats, at 616 Camden Avenue during the 1930’s and ‘40’s. After school, she worked as the cashier and particularly enjoyed making ice cream cones for customers, adding a smidgen more for those she liked. Throughout her life, the old-time wooden-handled scoop with a ratcheted gear remained one of her favorite possessions.
After graduating from Burlington High School, Mary went on to graduate with an associate’s degree from Rider College where she majored in secretarial studies. She worked at Fleetwings aircraft factory in Bristol, Pa. during WWII before marrying Arthur Francis McIntyre, a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, also from Burlington. Following their marriage on August 12, 1943 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, they traveled on a hospital train amidst bandaged soldiers to Alamagordo and what is now Holloman AFB, located in the White Sands of New Mexico.
During that time, she worked as a secretary on the base and witnessed the test explosions of the first atomic bomb secretly developed there. During their long marriage, they moved to Ocean City and then Moorestown, N.J., and again to Indianapolis where she worked as an assistant to Indiana Governor Otis T. Bowen, M.D., before retiring with Arthur to Naples, Fla.
In her spare time, she was an expert knitter and needle pointer and enjoyed deep sea fishing. Mary is survived by a daughter, Joy, of Philadelphia; a son, Arthur Francis Jr. (known as Bud) of Tulsa; granddaughters Austin, Alexandra, and Victoria; and four great-grandchildren.
