Mildred L. (Merritt) Slingerland

TROY - Mildred Lenore (Merritt) Slingerland, 101, of Troy, Pa., passed away on November 25th 2012 at the Skilled Nursing Unit of Towanda Memorial Hospital. Mildred was born in Cowley, Pa, February 25, 1911, the second child of Mark Merritt and Bessie Kittle Merritt‘s growing family. Eight more children would follow, and the Merritt family home was lively and loving. Mildred would reminisce fondly of her life there and especially enjoyed telling the tale of how she would catch the train right outside her house and ride into town to attend Troy High School. While in high school she was a formidable force on the women’s basketball team and enjoyed her teammates, the competition, and the stylish 1920‘s era bloomers. (Years later Mildred would take the gentle teasing from her children about the bloomers--forever captured in team photos--with her usual good grace.) After graduating in 1928 she attended Mansfield College for a while and then worked as a nanny for a doctor‘s family. On January 23, 1932 she married Robert “Bob” Slingerland of Troy, Pa. and moved to the family dairy farm. She was a mother, a housekeeper, a talented crafter, a farm hand, and an assistant to her husband in the operation of the Valley Stock Yards, a livestock auction house in Athens, PA. She told of raking hay with a team of horses using an old style “dump rake”. She was an avid photographer with thousands of family photos in her collection, as well as a “scrap booker.” Her scrap books contain many years of notable events in the local area involving the community as well as her family. She was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian Church of Troy and over the years created innumerable ornaments for the church’s Christmas bazaar. All who knew her will miss her. Of all her many attributes and accomplishments, her whole-hearted capacity for loving will be most remembered. She is survived by her daughter, JoAnn Zacharias; her sons, Raymond Slingerland (wife DeLoyce) of Milton, FL; Robert L. Slingerland (wife Barbara) of Troy, PA; Rudy Slingerland (wife Ellen) of State College, PA; grandchildren Vicki Anderson, Jeff Slingerland, Lisa Anderson, Jody Place, Judy Streby, Ronny Slingerland, Shelly Baldwin, Max Slingerland, and Mason Slingerland. Also surviving are her youngest sibling Edward Merritt (wife Judie) of Chattanooga, TN, sister-in-law Betty Slingerland, many great-grandchildren, and a few great-great-grandchildren. In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband Bob (1988), and siblings Benita, James, Merle, Miles, Ruth, Rexford, Dorna, and Ellen. Family and friends are welcome to visitation hour beginning at 4 p.m. and to the funeral service at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27th 2012 at the Vickery Funeral Home, 1093 West Main Street, Troy, PA with Pastor Bill Bardo officiating. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery, Troy, PA., at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made in her memory to the First Presbyterian Church of Troy, 121 West Main St. Troy, Pa., 16947.