Mona Gene (Howes) Pickering lost her battle with Alzheimer’s disease surrounded by love and prayer on January 13, 2020. She was 76 years old.
Mona leaves her daughter Jennifer Ward (Pickering) and her husband Greg; her daughter Kellie Isert (Pickering) and her husband Tim; her son Gary Hall Pickering Jr.; sisters Mary Peoples, Ellen El Fadl, Julia Spelsberg; many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends. She is also survived by her four grandchildren, Sam and Claire Isert; Tayson and Ashlyn Pickering.
Mona was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, but was raised in Fairmont, West Virginia, the daughter of Stanford and Margaret Howes.
She attended Mount Saint Joseph College in Cincinnati, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Mona joined the United State Navy in 1963 and was stationed in Pensacola, Florida. She served honorably as a Navy Nurse. Working at the base hospital, she met her husband Gary Pickering, a Navy corpsman. After their service, they were married in Toledo, Ohio and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. In Lincoln they welcomed the birth of their two daughters. Gary’s job relocated the family to Michigan in 1970 and son Gary Jr. was born.
Throughout her marriage, Mona worked as a nurse in hospitals and retirement centers. After the family relocated to Maple Valley, Washington in the summer of 1981, Mona became a school nurse. She was very active in her community – working with her children’s schools as part of the PTA and other activities. Mona joined the Maple Valley Historical Society and later served as their president for many years. She was an integral part of establishing both the Maple Valley Historical Society Fire Engine Museum and the Gibbon-Mezzavilla General Store.
Mona’s celebration of life will be on Monday, July 20th, 2020. She will be interned at Tahoma National Cemetery at 10AM. There will then be a service at St. Barbara’s Catholic Church in Black Diamond, Washington at Noon with a reception to follow. We understand that summer is a busy time, but we invite the many family and friends who loved Mona to attend the internment, the service and the reception.
