Anna Marie Shetler Steckley

Anna Marie Shetler Steckley, age 95 of Harrisonburg, Virginia and formerly of Pigeon, Michigan, passed away Saturday, January 12, 2013 at Oak Lea Nursing Home at VMRC.
She was born May 30, 1917 near Pigeon and was the daughter of the late Jacob and Anna (Guengerich) Shetler. She was the last of nine sisters and brothers, and also preceded in death by her daughter, Joanna Mae Steckley. On August 14, 1938, she married Floyd Steckley, who preceded her in death.
Anna Marie lived in Pigeon Michigan until age 42 and was on a farm where Floyd her husband raised livestock until Floyd died of polio in 1952. Her four now deceased brothers, Clarence, George, Marion and Jacob all lived in California. She had four sisters, two which died at an early age and two that lived all their lives Pigeon; she was the youngest of a family of nine. She wrote a book entitled "Song in the Night" in which she recalled her family life including the death of Joanna Mae at age 20 from a car accident.
In September of 1959, the family moved to Harrisonburg. She was retired from working in the office at Media Ministries. She was a member of Park View Mennonite Church. She served on the Park View church council and participated in many other activities involving the church. She was very involved in the VMRC Auxiliary.
After moving to Park View, she worked at Martin's dry goods store for several years. She then worked for Mennonite Media Ministries for many more years and became involved in the Bible education correspondence courses for prisoners from many parts of the country. She would grade the courses and correspondence for prisoners and became person of support for them.
In addition to the book, she wrote articles on coping with grief and gave presentations on panels dealing with grief. She served on the Park View church council and participated in many other activities involving the church.
She enjoyed traveling to see her four brothers in California frequently especially after the passing of Floyd her husband in which she found their support as a valuable force in her life. Other travels were to the New England states and to the west coast including through the mountains of western Canada. She also did some travel internationally to the Holy Land, to World Conference in Germany, Switzerland and through other parts of Europe.
She was an avid Scrabble player and took pride in beating anybody at any time including her sons. She enjoyed entertaining students and others that visited her in her VMRC apartment for more than 15 years. Of course she also enjoyed the family visits by her sons and her grandchildren over the years.
She is survived by sons, F. Robert Steckley and wife, Macy, of Ontario, Oregon, and Reynold Weldon Steckley and wife, Marlene, of Key West, Florida; foster daughter, Betty Oberholtzer Kreider and husband John, of Denbigh, Virginia; three grandchildren, David Steckley, Deanna Steckley Farmer and Wendy Steckley Elford; three foster grandchildren, Roger Oberholtzer, Brenda Snead, and Bradley Oberholtzer; eight great grandchildren; and four foster great grandchildren.
The Funeral Service will be 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at Pigeon River Mennonite Church, Pigeon, with Rev. Tom Beachy officiating. Burial will follow at the church cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Scholarship Fund for Joanna Mae Steckley, EMU Development, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22802.