Mary Tukina Tukina Byrnes

Wife of the late Robert D. Byrnes and survived by sister Bridget Xander of Pittsburgh, PA; niece Karen Xander of Pittsburgh, PA; nephew Richard Xander, Jr. (Valerie) of Pittsburgh, PA; nephew Brian Xander; and cousins Anne Kirby of Cary, NC and Mary Krause (Phil) of Cary, NC.

Mary was born in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States with her family in 1935. She was raised in Palmerton, PA and trained as a medical technologist at the Hahnemann Medical School and Hospital in Philadelphia. She married Robert in 1952 and they resided in Philadelphia for over forty years. She and her husband retired to Whortonsville in 1988. Mary was a board member of the Philadelphia Board of Women Officials, a member of the Island Heights, NJ Yacht Club, and the United States Navy League of North Carolina. Mary volunteered many joyful hours with the Hope Clinic in Bayboro. She was a parishioner of St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in New Bern.

A memorial mass will be held at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Arrangements are by Cotten Funeral Home and Crematory. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.cottenfuneralhome.com.