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WHEREAS, a person's heritage and neighborhood can become a very important part of who they are, and that life's most valuable of gifts are those that are difficult to calculate in material terms, given discreetly and without the thought of reward; and
WHEREAS, Mary Van Horn is a proud graduate of Peabody High School and Slippery Rock University, she was raised in Brushton and resided in Stanton Heights until 15 years ago when she moved to West Deer Township; and
WHEREAS, Mary Van Horn has been a fixture in the Pittsburgh School District and Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers Union since first hired in 1964 to teach at Madison Elementary in the Hill District, taught 1st through 7th grades for 20 years, then transferred to Brookline Elementary, where she became interested in teaching teachers better ways of educating students; and
WHEREAS, Mary Van Horn taught in the classroom for her first 24 years, for her last 24 years she has been on staff as the Vice-President of the PFT, although, she actually was PFT Vice-President for a total of 39 years; and
WHEREAS, Mary Van Horn coached baseball from 1974 through 1995 in her community of Stanton Heights, starting with T-Ball and Little League for six years, before graduating to the Colt League, coaching high school age boys; and
WHEREAS, it was at the Colt level that Mary's knowledge of the game was publicized in the media, “MARYBALL” won 5 Colt League City Championships as well as, several Western PA summer tournaments, Mary was so well respected that she was voted President of the Allegheny Valley Baseball Conference for 13 consecutive years; and
WHEREAS, many of her former players went on to have successful college baseball careers, two of her boys were drafted by major league teams: the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals; and
WHEREAS, Mary Van Horn is most of all the loving mother of Todd and grandmother of Scott and Julie - always a great and loving family woman; and
WHEREAS, the world has b...
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