Mary P. Lebet

Mary P. Lebet, age 91, of Ipswich, MA, formerly of Adelphi, MD and Sunnyvale, CA died on Saturday, February 15^,th at her daughter’s home in Wilmington, DE. Mary was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. While working for the New York City Auditor’s office during the day Mary attended Hunter College at night, and was an active member of many campus organizations, as well as a winner of the NY subways “Miss Subways” pageant. Mary put her education on hold to raise her six children. After all her children earned their bachelor’s degrees, Mary went back to school. She attended Lesley University in Cambridge, MA earning her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Organizational Behavior in 1990 and her Master’s degree in Training and Development in 1993. Mary worked for many organizations over her career, beginning as an attendant at a Horn & Hardart automat in New York City at the age of 14. She had a long career with the telephone company, beginning at C & P Telephone Company in Maryland in 1970, and subsequently transferring to Massachusetts, where she worked in Lynn doing Yellow Pages production, National Account sales and Superpages. She retired from NYNEX at the age of 72. Being bored in retirement, Mary went back to work; her last position was as a field agent for the US Census Bureau, finally retiring at the age of 82.

Mary’s passion was poodles, particularly standard poodles. She acquired her first standard in the 1960’s and bred and owned standards throughout the remainder of her life. She was an active member of the Washington Poodle Club and Poodle Club of Massachusetts as well as the Poodle Club of America, serving in many Board positions for each of the organizations. She was also an avid Jeopardy! fan and loved to travel and read.

Mary is survived by her husband of 65 years, David, of Ipswich, MA, her children Philip Lebet (Deena Hartline) of Washington, DC, Ruth Lebet of Wilmington, DE, Andrew Lebet (Kathleen) of Jacksonville, FL, Susan Heichert (Richard) of Minneapolis, MN, Judith Lebet of Alexandria, VA, and Peter Lebet (Judith) of Pepperell, MA, and her brother Eugene Patterson (Ann Marie) of Tega Cay, SC. She is also survived by her six grandchildren, Kyle Lebet (Katy), Caroline Lebet (Cole Reardon), Jakob Heichert (Cailin), Kelsey Bowen (Nathan), Bryn Lebet and Duncan Lebet, and 2 great grandchildren, Milo and Remy Lebet.