{"id":42858,"date":"2015-05-25T14:29:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T14:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/?p=42858"},"modified":"2015-05-27T19:28:25","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T19:28:25","slug":"mary-meyers-remembered-for-hard-work-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/05\/25\/mary-meyers-remembered-for-hard-work-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Meyers remembered for hard work, resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Meyers, owner of Mary’s Fabric and Craft Center, died in her home Wednesday at the age of 92. (File Photo by Wendy Post)<\/p><\/div>\n

For over 60 years, Mary E. Meyers operated her own business in Sayre.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Meyers died at her home, leaving a legacy of diligence and high-quality service in the Valley.<\/p>\n

Meyers’ grandson Dana Ellis said Meyers opened her business in 1953 on Elmira Street in Sayre.<\/p>\n

“It started out with Mary’s General Store,” he said.<\/p>\n

For decades, Meyers ran her store, which slowly shifted away from the general store and gas station to the fabric and craft store customers know it as today.<\/p>\n

“We moved to the current (West Lockhart Street) location in the 1990s,” Dana Ellis said. “With the gas market, we couldn’t keep up with the gas stations on Elmira Street.”<\/p>\n

He said when going to the store daily, Meyers had to cross bustling Elmira Street and that on one fateful day, she fell in the middle of the street while crossing.<\/p>\n

Her family didn’t want her to cross the street as they noticed increasing amounts of traffic and made the move to West Lockhart Street.<\/p>\n

The family convinced Meyers to rebrand the store as Mary’s Fabric and Craft Center.<\/p>\n

“My dad said she should shift to the stuff she loved,” Dana Ellis said.<\/p>\n

And she loved to knit, to crochet, Dana Ellis said.<\/p>\n

“I think without knitting and crocheting she wouldn’t have lived as long as she did,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meyers’ fingers were busy with needles and thread up until her death, Dana Ellis said.<\/p>\n

Dana Ellis said when Meyers was in her 20s, a doctor diagnosed her with spinal arthritis, which ended up requiring the use of a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

“She was in a wheelchair most of her life,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meyers’ daughter-in-law and Dana Ellis’ mother Darlene Ellis said when he was a child, Dana Ellis used to sit on Meyers’ lap and get rides around the store in her wheelchair.<\/p>\n

But that was just one obstacle for Meyers to overcome.<\/p>\n

She also stared death in the eyes at a young age when giving birth to her son, Dana Ellis’ father.<\/p>\n

“She had my dad at a young age,” Dana Ellis said. “She almost died giving birth to my father.”<\/p>\n

With a ninth grade education and no college, Meyers managed to establish herself as a reputable and hardworking business owner in the Valley and was an inspiration for others, especially Dana Ellis.<\/p>\n

“She never went to school or college,” he said.<\/p>\n

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t smart.<\/p>\n

Dana Ellis said he credits her for guiding him in his own business, Pro R\/C Fix It Shop, which shares the same building as the fabric and craft center.<\/p>\n

“She taught me a lot and she gave me really great advice,” he said.<\/p>\n

And Meyers taught many others, too, he said.<\/p>\n

Anyone who came to her store looking to have a seam mended, a zipper fixed, or a hole patched up would get an in-service lesson as to how to fix it themselves.<\/p>\n

“She would actually teach (people) how (to fix a zipper),” Dana Ellis said.<\/p>\n

Darlene Ellis said Meyers was a child of the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

“She grew up in the Depression,” she said. “They kept everything so they could reuse it.”<\/p>\n

Dana Ellis said she always was fixing things.<\/p>\n

“She’d fix a hole perfectly and you’d never know it was damaged,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dana Ellis also said Meyers was not one to buy mass produced items, especially groceries.<\/p>\n

“She grew everything she ate, made her own bread,” he said because she didn’t like the chemicals large producers used on their products.<\/p>\n

Darlene Ellis said Meyers always picked her blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries to sell at the store when they were just perfectly ripe.<\/p>\n

Dana Ellis recalled attending various craft shows as a child and getting to use all of the new and unique products vendors had to offer.<\/p>\n

He said at those many craft shows, he’d make a new craft and give it to Meyers.<\/p>\n

“I surprised her with the crafts I made,” he said. “And she always kept them.”<\/p>\n

He said Meyers was an extremely hard worker that strived to provide the best for her customers.<\/p>\n

What could people learn from Meyers’ long life and legacy of hard work?<\/p>\n

“If you put your mind to it and work hard,” Dana Ellis said, “you’re going to accomplish a lot.”<\/p>\n

Darlene Ellis said the community always supported Meyers and her business.<\/p>\n

“She was well known and well liked,” she said. “We loved her and we’re going to miss her.”<\/p>\n

Meyers’ family and friends will gather from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 26 at the Blauvelt Funeral Home at 625 Broad St. in Waverly, with a celebration of Mary’s life to follow at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Pastor Larry Day will lead the celebration.<\/p>\n

Burial will be in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Dushore at the convenience of the family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over 60 years, Mary E. Meyers operated her own business in Sayre. On Wednesday, Meyers died at her home, leaving a legacy of diligence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nMary Meyers remembered for hard work, resilience - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/05\/25\/mary-meyers-remembered-for-hard-work-resilience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mary Meyers remembered for hard work, resilience - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For over 60 years, Mary E. 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