Winifred S Below

Winifred E. Below, 97, of Swiftwater, passed away at home on March 14, 2022 following a short illness. She was the loving wife of Max K. Below, with whom she shared 47 years of marriage prior to his death in 1991.

Born in Philadelphia, Winifred was the daughter of Oscar T. and Anna L. Scherf, who came to the United States from Germany shortly after the end of World War I. The Scherf family purchased a small farm property in Swiftwater in 1943 following a summer vacation visit to the area.

Winifred met her husband, Max, in Philadelphia when he was in technical training to become an airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corps. They were married in Columbia, South Carolina, prior to his war service in China, India, and Burma.

Following the end of World War II, Winifred and Max settled in Swiftwater and in 1952 built a home on property near the family farm. This was to be their home to the present day.

Wynne’s life was defined through service to others, and she believed in the dignity and value of all work that benefitted her family and all those around her. She worked as a teenager in Philadelphia to help her family survive the Depression, and she held several jobs in the Poconos in her youth including waitressing at Strickland’s Mountain Inn and The Old Heidelberg restaurant. In the 1960’s she became the office manager for a Stroudsburg optometrist, Dr. Gail Fegley. At Dr. Fegley’s practice she held many responsibilities—scheduling appointments, conducting fittings for glasses and contact lenses, ordering materials, billing, and accounting. In a modern office at least two people would be needed to complete these many tasks. Following Dr. Fegley’s retirement, Wynne remained with the office to assist the new optometrist, Dr. Brian Olzinski, as he began his first practice. She had intended to stay a year or two, but ended up assisting Dr. Olzinski for approximately eight years. Finally, at age 78 Wynne thought she was ready to retire. However, her retirement didn’t last very long.

Missing the joy of working with people on a daily basis, Wynne decided to volunteer on the Swiftwater campus of the Pocono Mountain School District. She met her good friend Donna Denninger, an administrative assistant, and worked with her at both the East Intermediate School and Swiftwater Elementary Center, where she was a volunteer for fourteen years. She was happy to volunteer at school every day because it gave her life purpose, whether she was alphabetizing, filing, cutting laminated materials for teachers, or preparing bus tags for each year’s new class of kindergarten students.

Wynne was preceded in death by her parents Oscar and Anna, her brother Rudolph, and her sister Elizabeth. She is survived by her two sons, Robert and his wife, Linda, of Bartonsville; William and his wife, Anna, of Scotrun; and seven grandchildren: Shaun Below, Sally Below, Anna Bilby, Susan Below, Steven Below, Scott Below, and Laura Mattison. Wynne also had seven great grandchildren: Max, Mitchell, Wynne, Magnus, Stratton, Cody, and Travis. Three nieces (Terri, Christina, and Dori) and one nephew (Rick) are part of the family as well.

A special, heartfelt thank you is extended to Wynne’s friends at Swiftwater Elementary Center: Anna Widdoss, Susie Diaz, the building and district administrators who supported her volunteerism, and the countless teachers and support staff members who enriched her life on a daily basis. Our family truly believes that their support added at least five productive and happy years to Wynne’s life.

A memorial service in Wynne’s honor will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 11:00 AM at her home church, St. Paul Lutheran Church, 158 Fish Hill Road, Tannersville, PA 18372. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Paul Lutheran Church Endowment Fund or to a charity of your choice.

Service is the rent we pay for a room on earth. (inscription over a hospital doorway in India, 1917)