Mary Jane Holcomb

Mary Jane Holcomb, 93, of New Castle, Delaware, died May 24, 2020 at Christiana Hospital, of pneumonia. Born Mary Jane Miller in New Castle County on May 16, 1927 to the late Paul and Mary(Schuchardt) Miller. She was raised in New Castle and graduated from St.Peter’s High School in June 1945. She attended Beacom College in Wilmington and worked for a few years before marrying James R. Holcomb, of the Holcomb family of U.S. Marines, in Sept. 1951. She lived in Illinois while her husband was completing his master’s degree at the University of Illinois, before moving to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1955. Son Eric was born in 1960 and raised in the Penn Hills community east of Pittsburgh. Following Eric starting college in 1978, she worked as an administrative assistant at Carnegie Mellon University, until retirement in Sept. 1994. Although her husband died earlier in 1994, she continued to live in the family home near Pittsburgh, became a breast cancer survivor, and moved back to New Castle in 2000, near many of her relatives. She enjoyed her retirement, traveling on several occasions to destinations such as New York City, Florida, Ireland, and Italy, where she was in a Catholic tour group at the Vatican. She is survived by son, Eric Holcomb; sister, Ellen Parks; brother, Paul Miller; cousins, Johnny Fox and Jeanie Coover; a niece and several nephews and their families. She had a long and active life and will be missed.