Edith Mayaud Nekut (nee Woolever), a retired RCA chemical engineer and resident of Lancaster since 1950 passed away peacefully on her 85th birthday December 29, 2011 while a resident of Moravian Manor’s Herrnhut South Wing Community, their social dementia unit. 

Born December 29, 1926 in Philadelphia, PA, Edith was predeceased by her two husbands.  Her first husband Charles (Carl) Jean Gabriel Mayaud, a professor at Franklin and Marshall College died in 1971.  Anthony (Andy) G. Nekut, her second husband, an RCA electrical engineer passed away in late 2001.  She is survived by two children (Christian Mayaud of Bronxville, NY; and Valerie Lieberman of Cranford, NJ); and two step-children (Margaret Tolzman of Bethesda, MD; and Stephanie Boyer of Columbia, MD); 9 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.  Edith’s third step-child (Anthony Nekut, Jr., of Ithaca, NY) passed way during September 2011.

Edith graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1948 on full academic scholarship with a degree in Chemistry.  She briefly lived in Cuba with Carl, who was teaching at the University of Santiago, before Castro took power.  They then settled in Lancaster after Carl began teaching at Franklin & Marshall College, building a home together at the foot of Blossom Hill near Neffsville.   After working briefly for Lorilliard, Edith joined RCA as a chemical engineer, retiring in 1975 after a distinguished career, where she received several patents. 

Edith was an accomplished cook and bread baker, teaching the latter for many years.  She had quite a green thumb, filling her greenhouse (built by Andy) with orchids year-round.  She and Andy had a prodigious vegetable garden.  Edith was never without massive pots of flowering plants and herbs wherever she lived. 

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Memorial Service, which will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster, 538 West Chestnut Street, Lancaster, PA; Saturday January 14th at 11:00 AM.  Details can be found at http://memorialforedithnekut.tumblr.com.

There will be a private burial at St. Peters Lutheran Cemetery.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to the staff at Moravian Manor, especially those in the Herrnhut South Wing dementia unit.

In lieu of flowers, a gift can be sent either to Moravian Manor c/o Diane Ford, 300 W. Lemon St., Lititz, PA 17543 (specify Herrnhut South Wing); or to Resources Office Helfarian, at Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2899 (specify the Scholarship Fund). To send the family online condolences, please visit SnyderFuneralHome.com. Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home & Crematory 717-393-9661