Mary Jane Felix Smedley

1921 - 2016

Mary Jane Felix Smedley passed away at Penncrest Farm in Middletown Township on Monday, August 15, 2016, at age 94. She was born in Landsdowne, PA, on December 3, 1921, to Jane Heddens and Samuel Palmer Felix. Mary Jane, known as “MJ,” attended Landsdowne Friends School and The Baldwin School. She was graduated from Swarthmore College in 1943 and also attended a summer program at Stanford University. MJ and Walter Smedley Jr. married on June 5, 1943. An active, avid gardener and horticulturalist, MJ was a member of Mill Creek Valley Garden Club and a patron of Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College. She studied horticulture at the Barnes Foundation and taught outdoor education in the Rose Tree School District at Ridley Creek State Park, in Media, PA. She was a longtime member of The Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club in Beach Haven, NJ; The Pennsylvania Horticulture Society; and The Church of the Redeemer, serving on the Flower Guild for several decades. She supported The Philadelphia Orchestra and Planned Parenthood. MJ is survived by her daughters, Stephanie and Sarah, son, Walter III, daughter-in-law, Kathleen, son-in-law, Timothy Cole, granddaughter, Rebecca Smedley, and grandson, Walter IV, his wife, Lori, and their children, Ella, Naomi and Louisa. She and Walter also had a son, Samuel Spencer Smedley, who predeceased them. There will be a memorial service at The Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, on Saturday, November 26, at 11am, followed by interment at Middletown Friends Meeting in Lima, PA.