King, Maryann Pancheri Obituary

King, Maryann Pancheri attended Horace Mann High School in Gary, IN. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about King, Maryann Pancheri.

Graduation Year	Class of 1962
Date of Passing	Feb 15, 2018
About	Maryann Pancheri (nee King) age 73, passed away peacefully in her home on February 15, 2018. She is survived by a brother, Dr. John T. King; sisters-in-law: Rose King, Joan Pancheri Jasen, Janet Pancheri, Darlene Lang, Heidi Lang Huber; brothers- in-law: Thomas Pancheri, Donald Pancheri, Rev. Jerry Huber, Dr. Walter Swentko, and Steve Jasen; numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, cousins, aunts, godchildren, friends, neighbors, former students and St. Thomas More parishioners. Maryann was with her best friend and husband of 47 years, Jim Pancheri, at the moment of her passing. She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Rosemary (Curran) King, brother-in-law, A. Irv Lang, and sister-in-law Trudy Lang Swentko. Maryann was born on August 8, 1944, in Gary, Indiana. Growing up in a home near the entrance to U.S. Steel, she attended Holy Angels School and Horace Mann High School, graduating in 1962. She spent two years at St. Mary of The Woods College, then transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, where she earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree. While in graduate school at IU, she spent a year (1965-66) in Germany, studying at the University of Hamburg, through the first Indiana University-Purdue University Study Abroad Honors Program. After completing her Master's, Maryann was offered an instructorship in Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Chicago while working on her Doctorate. Instead, she returned to Gary to care for her aging parents, taking a position with the School Town of Munster where she taught German to 4th through 12th grade students in all of the Munster schools; and English to eighth graders at Wilbur Wright Middle School. Among other accomplishments, her students won multiple honors in the Indiana Poetry Contest. Along with other teachers, she was honored in a White House Rose Garden ceremony during President Clinton's first term. After 39 years, she took early retirement due to a decades-long struggle with respiratory disease and brain cancer. Maryann was a member of the Munster Teachers Association, serving in various offices, and a life member of the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), the Indiana Council of Teachers of English (ICTA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTA) and the National Education Association (NEA). She is a life member of the Purdue University President's Council, Purdue's R.B. Stewart Society, Indiana University's Arbutus Society and the DePaul University President's Council. She is also a life member of the Purdue University Alumni Association, the Indiana University Alumni Association and the St. Mary of the Woods Alumni Association. As a member of St. Thomas More parish, Maryann served as a Eucharistic Minister, as a Lector, sang in the funeral choir, and served on the Environment and Art Committee. Although she lived a quiet life, Maryann was a citizen of the world. In her personal and profession life she believed that everyone deserves respect and protection. She championed core universal values, moral support, true kindness, respect and unconditional love. She was a lifelong advocate for those who suffered with mental illness and Parkinson's Disease. Maryann requested that there be no flowers sent to her funeral, asking that a donation be made in her memory to one of the following (both University Foundations will fund scholarships named in her honor): James R. Pancheri & Maryann King Pancheri German Overseas Study Abroad Endowment Fund c/o Purdue Research Foundation, 403 West Wood Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907; James R. Pancheri & Maryann King Pancheri German Overseas Study Abroad Endowment Fund c/o Indiana University Foundation, 1500 North State Road 46 Bypass, Bloomington, IN 47408; SHARE Foundation, P.O. Box 400, Rolling Prairie, IN 46371 Visitation will be Friday, February 23, 2018 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at BURNS-KISH FUNERAL HOME 8415 Calumet Avenue, Munster, IN. Funeral Mass Saturday, February 24 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas More, 8435 Calumet Avenue, Munster, Rev. Michael J. Yadron officiating. Interment at Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens, Schererville. Please visit www.burnskish.com Published in The Times from Feb. 21 to Feb. 23, 2018