Obituary of Mary Louise Harrison

Mary Louise (Bartron) Harrison died Monday, May 6, 2019 at Atrium Senior Living, Matawan, New Jersey, where she resided for the last three years.  She was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on June 16, 1937 and graduated from Harrisburg Catholic High School in 1955.  She moved to the Delaware County area of Pennsylvania after high school for several years and then relocated to New Jersey in 1962.

Mary Louise attended Douglass College, Rutgers University, for two years and Trenton State University for one year.  Her many interests and hobbies included heirloom sewing, miniatures, carpentry and genealogy.  She was instrumental in helping construct the dollhouse at the East Brunswick Public Library and taught dollhouse construction classes in her East Brunswick home, where she resided for more than 50 years.  She was a member of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (Princeton Pleaters Chapter) and the American Sewing Guild.  Mary Louise was involved in girl scouting as a Girl Scout and a leader for more than ten years. 

As a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Francis Hopkinson Chapter, Monmouth Court House and the Mayflower Society, Mary Louise successfully researched and established ancestry for admission for her family.  She was a member of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and the Paul Revere Memorial Association.

Over the years, Mary Louise worked at various secretarial positions and as a nursery school teacher at the New Brunswick YWCA.  Later in her career, she was a chemical worker and carpenter at Bayway Refinery in Linden, New Jersey. She retired from Chemical Bank in New Jersey in 1995.

She is survived by her husband Robert L. Harrison, sister Judith Ray of Washington, daughter Mary Katherine Knoblauch, son-in law Edward Knoblauch both of Holmdel, New Jersey, daughter Rosalie Shoeman of Montville, New Jersey, son-in-law Samuel Vazquez of Georgia, and five grandchildren, Maria, Ramon and Angelina Vazquez and Phillip and Andrew Croteau.  She is predeceased by her daughter Robin Vazquez, her sister Doris Lohr, and her parents, Russell and Ernestyne Bartron.  

A memorial service will be announced in the near future.