PENNY RUSSELL

RUSSELL
PENNY (MARION ELIZABETH)
Of Cranberry Township, PA, died June 3, 2014. Penny was born on March 18, 1930, in Johnstown, PA, daughter of Evelyn Stapleton Brubaker and William Samuel Stephens. She graduated from high school in Indiana, PA, and then pursued her great talent and passion for art at Indiana State Teachers College (PA), graduating with a degree in Art Education. She married David Trader Russell on May 26, 1951. When he was drafted into the Army, she joined him in Germany and their daughter, Cheryl, was born there in 1953. In 1956 their son, David, was born in Indiana, PA. Penny began her art-teaching career at Indiana Junior-Senior High School. In 1962 the family moved to Sewickley, PA, where both Penny and David taught in the Quaker Valley School District. She received her master's degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1965. In the 1970s Penny and David took over her father's Xmas tree farm near Dilltown, PA, and upon retiring from teaching in 1986 they relocated to Wee Hoose and Pine-Sylvania Tree Farm where they raised Colorado Blue Spruce Xmas trees. Penny was a devoted naturalist and had a deep connection with the natural world that inspired her art. In the 1990s Penny and David helped establish the Ghost Town Trail and, along with partner Cindy Gilmore, opened Dillweed Bed & Breakfast in Dilltown. In 1995 they donated 675 acres to the Indiana County Parks to establish the Blacklick Valley Natural Area, which preserves the western Pennsylvania forest and wildlife for future generations and is the living symbol of Penny's love of nature and the outdoors. In 1999 they moved to Beaufort, SC, where they spent many happy years enjoying the outdoors, local arts, and where they became founding members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort. In November 2013 they returned home to western Pennsylvania, moving to Sherwood Oaks Retirement Community in Cranberry Township. Penny was an active, successful artist from her teens to her final days. As a teacher, she inspired many students to embrace art in their life and influenced more than a few to choose art as a career. She was an exhibiting member of art associations in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Her work hangs on the walls of art collectors, neighbors, friends, and family throughout the United States. She is survived by her husband, David; their daughter, Cheryl Ann Russell (Rick Eckstrom) in Beaufort, SC; their son, David Stephens Russell (Martha) in St. Paul, MN; and grandchildren, Sky Eckstrom in Pittsburgh, Julien Eckstrom in Pittsburgh, and Alison Russell (Eric Hoeger) in Darwin, Australia. The life of Penny will be celebrated with a memorial in Dilltown, PA, this summer. Memorial contributions may be made to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
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