Mary M. (Smith) Frantz

Mary M. Frantz 
July 10, 2023 

On July 10, 2023, Mary Malinda Frantz, 97, of Pine Grove, entered her forever home with her family by her side at Hershey Medical Center after a very short stay.

Born on March 18, 1926 in Outwood, she was the oldest child of the late Arthur and Elvira Felty Smith and lived in Pine Grove all her life.

In ninth grade she started attending high school where she met Landis Frantz.  She graduated from Pine Grove High School in 1944 and worked at Indiantown Gap serving meals to the soldiers.  

She married Landis on March 17, 1945, and became a full-time homemaker.  They built a home together in seven months and lived there until 1971 when they moved to the farm that she presently lived on.  She kept a very neat home filled with homemade pies, cakes and doughnuts.  They always had a large garden and she canned fruits and froze vegetables.  Spaghetti sauce and sauerkraut filled the canning room shelves.

She loved having family together and cooking big meals for extended family and always had room for another one at the table.  Winters would find her mixing up batches of homemade ice cream and assisting with butchering.  For over 40 years, she enjoyed baking the Christmas cutout cookies along with family members.

Through the years, her hobbies included jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku, and word finds.  She was a competitive Scrabble player and knew so many words unknown to others.  Card decks did not hold up well to her fierce love of Solitaire.  She was later introduced to Solitaire on an I-pad and could be heard loudly tapping it while playing.  She enjoyed the game show network, and she could be heard calling out the answers before contestants did.  She was an avid reader until her eyesight worsened.  She loved winter and often would call family when she saw the first snowflakes or the cardinals outside her window.  She also enjoyed raising African violets, lilacs, daffodils and peonies and would have vases filled with the first flowers of season.  Through the years she filled countless diaries and enjoyed reading them and reminiscing.

She grew up attending Suedberg Church of God, was married, and attended Hetzel's Church.  Later she became a member of the Pine Grove Wesleyan Church.  She taught Sunday School and her love of God and the church family grew as she aged. 

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Landis A. Frantz in 2001, a grandson Lane Frantz; and two brothers, Herbert and Edward Smith.

She is survived by two sons, Larry Frantz, Craig and wife Gail Frantz; a daughter Debra and husband Clair Newswanger, all of Pine Grove; six grandchildren, Malinda (Mindy) Frantz, Melissa (Missy) and husband Todd Smith, Amy and husband Jason Wendt, Jestyn and wife Tiffany Newswanger, Jarrod Newswanger, Joy and husband Ryan Fasnacht; fourteen great grandchildren, Tyler and Dilan Smith, Evan and Ethan Wendt, Noah, Peyton, Delaney, Eli and Juliannah Newswanger, Joseph Kramer, Ella, Myla, Cooper and Coby Fasnacht; nieces, nephews and a cousin, Marie Beck.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 11:00 A.M. at the H. L. Snyder Funeral Home, Inc., Pine Grove with Pastor Earl Hertzog officiating.  There will be a viewing on Saturday, July 15, 2023 from 9:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. at the Funeral Home.  Interment will follow in the Suedberg Church of God, Pine Grove. 

In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer contributions be made to either the Pine Grove Wesleyan Church, 74 Bethel Rd. Pine Grove, Pa. 17963 or the Lane Frantz Scholarship Fund, c/o Pine Grove Area Educational Foundation P. O. Box 98, Pine Grove, PA 17963 in her memory. 

You may send condolences online at www.hlsnyderfuneralhome.com 

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