Devoted wife and mother, friend to children

Mary Slavik, a longtime Claremont resident, died on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. She was 85.

Mrs. Slavik was born on March 28, 1929 in Dayton, Ohio to John and Gladys Lenhardt. Young Mary’s family, which consisted of two sisters and a brother, moved in the late 1930s to St. Louis, Missouri. She met her husband John there in 1943 while working at National Candy Company.

They married on July 8, 1950 and moved to Glendale, California in 1956. That same year, they welcomed a son, John. In 1969, they welcomed a daughter, Robin.

The family moved from Glendale to La Puente and from Ontario to Pomona before finally settling in Claremont in 1978.

While she worked on and off throughout the years, Mrs. Slavik was mainly a housewife. Her real joy came from watching children. She worked in the nursery at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church from the 1980s until 2007 and was cherished by both the children and the parents.

She is survived by her husband of 64 years, John Slavik; by her children, John P. Slavik and Robin Mueller-Gibson; by her grandchildren, Bryan and Lesa Slavik; and by her sisters, JoAnn Schildmyer and June Carpenter.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, April 18 at 2 p.m. at Oak Park Cemetery, 410 S. Sycamore Ave. in Claremont.