Mary R. Yates | Mother of 9, secretary, 85

Mary Robinson Yates, 85, of East Lansdowne, a retired secretary and mother of nine children, died of heart failure Tuesday at Sunrise Assisted Living in Media.

Mrs. Yates grew up in Providence, R.I., where she met Robert Yates when he was stationed there by the Navy during World War II. They married in 1942.

After he retired from the Navy in 1956, the couple and their family settled in East Lansdowne. For several years, Mrs. Yates wrote about neighborhood events for the News of Delaware County and the Bulletin.

In 1971, she became a secretary in the neonatal intensive-care unit at Hahnemann University Hospital. She loved her work, recalled daughter Sara Pucino, and called the nurses "my girls." In 1986 they presented her with a recognition award. She retired in 1991.

Mrs. Yates taught Sunday school at Maranatha Tabernacle in Darby, and volunteered at the East Lansdowne Library and school.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by sons David, Herbert, Steven, John and Richard; daughters Mary Mewha, Ruth Finochiaro and Nancy; 16 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 2005.

A funeral will be at 1:30 a.m. today at Toppitzer Funeral Home at Arlington Cemetery, 2900 State Rd., Drexel Hill. Burial will be in Arlington Cemetery.