Faith Anita Pardoe

life story

Independent and Strong; Devoted Mother, Avid Investor, Graceful Dancer

Born in Sunbury, North Umberland County, Pennsylvania on 11 March 1928, orphaned by age 9, and raised with her siblings, Homer and Arletta, by her honorable Aunt Frances (who would not permit the children to be separated) and gentle Uncle Jack Murphy, Faith's life spanned a busy century. Just 25 years before her birth was the first flight; ten years prior was the end of the World War I, the one that would End All Wars. She saw The Great Depression, WW II, the advent of room-sized vacuum tube computers, the jet age, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Moon Landing, and cell phones. She was an avid and accomplished ballroom dancer, and proudly recalled Aunt Frances' congratulatory telegram to her after her TELEVISED (!!!) appearance in a dance competition. She worked for Lockheed Martin (with sister Arletta), ATT (with BFF, Sophie Riggio) and for several decades, Cities Service Oil Company, for whom she programmed computers with punch cards, and with whom she relocated from Philadelphia to Oklahoma in 1972. She raised an only child, son Steven, during decades that were even less friendly to single moms than they are now. Despite her own shortened school career, she understood the importance of education, and made sure Steven went to excellent schools and on to college. Her hobby was investing; Warren Buffet does not know this but she was his biggest fan. She learned to use a desktop computer at age eighty-five just to keep up with all the Wall Street happenings. After retirement, she returned back to Philadelphia. Then returned to Tulsa. Then returned to Philadelphia. Then . . . well, it was hard to keep track, but her last move was to Minnesota to be near her son, his wife Kirsten and her grandchildren, Holden and Mason. She passed very peacefully with her son right by her side. There was a steady stream of nursing home staff through her room during her last days saying how much they enjoyed her feisty sense of humor and admired her graceful dancing when there was music at the facility. A dancer to the end.