Mary Kathleen Moritz, touched everyone’s hearts

Mary Kathleen Moritz, 97, of Lewes passed away peacefully Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. She was surrounded by loved ones at the time of her death.

Mary was born in Greenwood, Pa., Jan. 7, 1922, to John Jacob Kuhns and Etta Marie McCluskey.  Her family later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she graduated from high school.  She often told stories about being the head movie usher at the Allen Theater in Cleveland. She married Herbert A. Moritz March 13, 1943, two months before he departed to fight in World War II as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps. She waited anxiously for him while he was a prisoner of war for two years after his plane was shot down over Germany.

After the war, the couple settled in Forest County, Pa., on 88 acres adjoining the Allegheny National Forest near Cook Forest State Park. Mary was a wonderful homemaker and loving mother who raised two sons, James Lawrence Moritz and Richard Alan Moritz. Her husband co-owned and managed Gateway Ford Sales in Marienville, Pa., and also served as Forest County commissioner. They were married 50 years until his passing in 1994. Both her parents and her husband’s parents, Charles and Clara Moritz, lived across the street from them until their time of death.

In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death by her husband; her son James; her brothers: Lawrence and Bernard Kuhns; her sister Florence Beyer; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.  She is survived by her son, Richard and his wife Barbara Moritz of Lewes; her daughter-in-law, Gladys Moritz of Blacksburg, Va.; her grandson, Michael Moritz and Janelle Hurd of Pittsburgh, Pa.; her granddaughters: Brooke Immel and husband Justin of Norwalk, Ohio, and Kellie Heath and her husband Nicholas of Eden Prairie, Minn.; her grandson, Matthew Moritz of Lewes; her four great-grandchildren; and her several nieces and nephews. 

Mary touched the hearts of everyone she met, and her many friends will remember her as one of the sweetest, kindest people they ever knew.

A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, Sept. 28, at 3 p.m., at Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, 16961 Kings Highway, Lewes, where friends may visit beginning at 2 p.m. Interment will be private.

Please visit Mrs. Moritz's Life Memorial Webpage and sign her online guest book at www.parsellfuneralhomes.com.