Wanda Jeanne (Funk) Abercrombie, family matriarch
Wanda Jeanne (Funk) Abercrombie died Thursday, April 18, 2019, just six days short of her 94th birthday. Her husband of over 71 years, David, died Jan. 5, 2019. They were together a long time. It's only appropriate they be together now.
Mother was born April 24, 1925, in Waynesboro, Pa., to Alma (Schroeder) “Peach” and Harry Clyde Funk. She spent her whole childhood at 183 Cleveland Ave., and had marvelous, fond memories of growing up there. Her father owned the Velvet Ice Cream Co., which was a lot of work and a lot of fun. After graduating from Waynesboro Senior High School, she briefly worked for Landis Tool Co. until she went to nurses' training in 1944 at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Md., a proud member of the Cadet Nurse Corps, graduating in 1947. But the previous summer, she had met a really handsome Navy man! Wanda and Dave married Aug. 10, 1947. Their daughter, Susan, was born in June 1948. In July 1949 their son David was born. In the first four years of marriage, they lived in six different residences in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In 1951 Dave's work took them to Texas where their second son, Taylor, was born in September, 1952.
When Taylor was six weeks old, the family moved back to the East Coast. Until all the kids were in college, Wanda and Dave lived in New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois and Maryland in seven different homes. Mother approached the disruption with her characteristic sense of humor, feistiness and loving warmth. She returned to nursing as a charge nurse for a hospital neo-natal unit and as nursing director of a nursing home. Once retired, Wanda and Dave enjoyed motor homing, traveling all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. They also visited New Zealand to connect with newly-found relatives. Wanda loved crafts; hooking rugs, knitting afghans, and needlepointing beautiful pictures, chair seat covers, Christmas ornaments and stockings. She was a voracious reader and active volunteer for Meals on Wheels and the Easton hospital auxiliary. But, most importantly, Wanda's spiritual home involved her church and its activities; altar guild, workshops and conferences, and supporting Dave when he became an Anglican priest at 80 years old.
Wanda and Dave loved living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Oxford and Easton. In the last couple years, they relocated to Rehoboth Beach to be close to their son, Taylor, and his family.
She is survived by her children: Sue Gardner and her husband Jim, Dave Abercrombie, and Taylor Abercrombie and his wife Jayne; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A service will be held at St. Thomas the Disciple Church, 270 Tilghman Road, Salisbury, Md., Saturday, April 27, at 10 a.m. Wanda will be interred next to her beloved Dave at The Church of the Holy Trinity in Oxford.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Thomas the Disciple Church, PO Box 2697, Salisbury, MD 21802.
Arrangements by Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, Lewes.
Please visit Wanda's Life Memorial Webpage and sign her online guestbook at www.parsellfuneralhomes.com.
