Chestnut Hill Dining Guide

This Week

Obituaries

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Mary Jo A. Smith, teacher

Mary Jo A. Smith, 64, of Glenside, a mathematics teacher at La Salle College High School for 26 years, died of ovarian cancer July 11 at Keystone Hospice in Wyndmoor.

Mrs. Smith was head of the mathematics department at La Salle and also was the faculty moderator of the forensics and drama clubs.

Born Mary Jo Vozzo in Chestnut Hill and raised in Wyndmoor, Mrs. Smith was a graduate of Bishop McDevitt High School and Chestnut Hill College. She received a master’s degree in mathematics from St. Louis University.

She also earned a certificate from the Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies at St. Mary’s College of California after completing a study of the philosophy of St. John Baptist de La Salle.

She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1963 and served in the order for 26 years.

She is survived by her husband, William R. Smith; a son, Matthew; a daughter, Emily; brothers Armand Vozzo Jr. and John Vozzo, and a sister, Annmarie Greenberg.

A funeral Mass was celebrated July 15 at the Church of St. Luke the Evangelist in Glenside, with interment in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation, 2010 West Chester Pike, Suite 300, Havertown, PA 19083, or at www.sandyovarian.org. – WF

Floyd E. Baker, dentist

Dr. Floyd E. Baker, 91, a retired dentist who had maintained a practice in North Philadelphia for more than 50 years, died July 15 at his home in Mt. Airy.

Dr. Baker had also been an adjunct professor of dentistry at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania and was head of the Department of Dental Surgery at Mercy-Douglass Hospital from 1966 to 1968.

He played an active role both in the dental profession and in the Philadelphia community.

He received the Philadelphia County Dental Society’s award for “50 years of devotion to the art and science of dentistry,” the Meharry Medical College award for “50 years of dedicated service” and an award for exemplary service from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

A leader in preventive dentistry, he worked as a dentist in the Follow Through Program of the School District of Philadelphia.

He had served on the boards of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the Tucker House II Nursing Home, the Columbia North YMCA of Philadelphia, and Beech Interplex, Inc.

Born in Auxvasse, Mo., Dr. Baker graduated from Garfield High School in Mexico, Mo., and Lincoln University in Jefferson, Mo. He received a doctoral degree in dental surgery from Meharry Medical College of Dentistry and pursued graduate studies at the New York Institute of Dentistry.

He served as a captain in the segregated Army during World War II and was instrumental in integrating the practice of dentistry in the military.

He was a member of the American Dental Association, the Philadelphia County Dental Society, the William A. Jackson Dental Association, the New Era Dental Society, Omega Psi Phi fraternity and its alumni association, and the alumni associations of Lincoln University and Meharry Medical College of Dentistry.

He was a longtime member of Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Baker is survived by his wife of 43 years, the former Gertrude Andrews; a son, Floyd Baker Jr.; a stepdaughter, Teresa Tate Rivera; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His former wife, Margaret Sellers Baker, and sisters Eliza Baker Christian, Paris Baker and Blanche Baker Ball, preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held July 20 at Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church. – WF

Nell W. Reath, volunteer

Nell W. Reath, 88, formerly of Chestnut Hill, a community volunteer, died July 14 at Cathedral Village in Andorra, where she had been living since 2002.

Mrs. Reath, a Chestnut Hill resident for nearly 60 years, had been an active member of St. Paul’s Church, the Philadelphia Garden Club, the Schuykill Center for Environmental Education and Education for Parenting, where she had served as chair of the board.

Born Nell Baskerville Williams in Pittsburgh, she attended The Ellis School in that city and Chatham Hall in Chatham, Va. 

She is survived by daughters Robin Reath Graves of Newburyport, Mass., Ellen W. Reath of Denver, Colo., Virginia C. Reath of New York, and Anne P. Reath, also of New York; a son Henry T. Reath Jr. of Princeton, N.J.; eight grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Mrs. Reath’s husband, Henry T. Reath, preceded her in death.

A family service will be held in mid-September at her gravesite in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where she will be buried next to her husband. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25 at St. Paul’s Church in Chestnut Hill.

Memorial donations may be made to the Schuylkill Center, 8480 Hagy’s Mill Rd. Philadelphia, PA 19128.  – WF