Mary Jane "Schoening" Drennon

Mary Jane “Schoening” Drennon, 88 of Vienna, W.Va. passed away peacefully Thursday, January 16, 2014 with family by her side at Camden Clark Medical Center, Memorial Campus in Parkersburg after a brief illness.Mary was born October 1, 1925 in Flasher, North Dakota, the sixth of nine children born to Otto and Elva “Nicolls” Schoening. Mary's childhood years were spent in New Leipzig, ND but during the Great Depression era the family moved to Flathead, Montana where she graduated from high school.After graduation, with older sister Eva, Mary moved to Washington state where she was employed during the war as a machinist, a “Rosie the Riveter”, at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA. She liked to say that “one day her ship came in” when she met and married a handsome young sailor from Texas, Delbert Drennon, on July 23, 1945. After the war they moved to Texas where Delbert went to work in the oilfields. They followed his work through west Texas, southeastern New Mexico and eventually southern West Virginia where she lived for 31 years in Yawkey, W.Va. At the young age of 80 she bought a home in Vienna, W.Va. and began a new chapter of her life.Mary was a homemaker who loved being a wife and mother to their four children. She loved God and all of His blessings and all of her family. She enjoyed gardening, quilting, crocheting, sewing, crafts of all kinds, cooking (Mary indeed made the very best fried chicken in the universe) and reading. She was active with the Senior Stitchers of Parkersburg. At the time of her death she was a faithful member of Christ Lutheran Church in Vienna. In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death by sisters Eva, Bernice, Elsie, Alice and Lorrayne; and brothers Marlin and Lloyd. She was also preceded in death by her husband of 33 years, Delbert in 1979; and by her oldest son, Lloyd, in November, 2013. She leaves behind brother, Clifford of Bremerton, WA,;daughter-in-law, Anita, of Rockwall, TX; daughter, Marlene (Darrell) Beasley of Albuquerque, NM; sons, Harold (Christine) of San Antonio, TX and David (Rebecca) of Parkersburg, W.Va.; grandchildren, Brian, Jeff, Michael, Jody, Jessica, Jana, Patrick, Liza, Hannah, Jennifer and Caleb; and great-grandchildren, Leila, Ashley, Kate, Halle, Madelyn, Colin and Elena; and also long time best friend and fellow “Rosie” and member of the Greatest Generation, Frances Land of Haskell, TX.Visitation will be Sunday, January 19, 2014 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home 3005 Grand Central Ave., Vienna, W.Va. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Monday at Christ Lutheran Church in Vienna with Pastor Emilie Theobald-Rowlands officiating. Graveside service and burial will follow at approximately 1:00 p.m. at Orchard Hill Memory Gardens at Yawkey, W.Va.