Mary Dean Sprinkle

Mary Dean Sprinkle was born Dec. 25, 1945 in Trenton, New Jersey. She was the oldest daughter of John Harold Sprinkle and Mary Edith Dean Sprinkle.

A short time after the birth of her sister Jean in 1948, Marys mother passed away, and Mary lived for a time with their maternal grandparents, Frederick and Margaret Dean, in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

After her fathers remarriage, Mary rejoined him and his family in Riderwood, Maryland where she attended the Riderwood Elementary School and Towson Junior-Senior High School, graduating in 1963. She completed her education at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Education

Following graduation, Mary worked at a wide variety of jobs, including positions with the U.S. Postal Service and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

On June 23, 1990, she married Joseph Fleming (Jeff) Horky, a computer engineer with Unisys, at the Mountain View Inn in Norfolk, Connecticut. The ceremony was performed by longtime friend and Justice of the Peace, Marcy Eichhom Fletcher.

The couple lived in Mission Viejo, California, taking full advantage of the sunny water and nearby attractions, until returning east in 1996, in order for Jeff to accept a position as a quality control engineer. It was then that they settled in Shepherdstown, in the area Mary has always considered home.

During her marriage, Mary enjoyed bird-watching and gardening and brightened her yard with many feeders, rose bushes and colorful perennials. She was also an accomplished cook and an enthusiastic supporter of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs). In addition she was a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society and spent many pleasurable hours doing genealogical research on ancestors like family patriarch Wilhelm Sprinkle, who emigrated from Germany in the 18th century.

Though Mary had been in declining health for several years, her death was unexpected. She passed way quietly during a brief stay at Berkeley Medical Center, on March 18, 2015.

She is survived by her husband, her sister Jean (Mrs. Eugene) Robertson of Silver Spring, Maryland, he sister Jane Turner of Chestertown, Maryland a brother, John H. Sprinkle Jr. of Alexandria, Virginia and a sister-in-law Jean (Mrs. John) Hall of Norwood, Massachusetts.

A ceremony of internment will be held 1 p.m. on April 4 at Rosedale Cemetery in Martinsburg. Memorial donations may be made to American Cancer Society of Jefferson County Council on Aging