Mary Virginia (Roda) Maher

January 18, 2018

Mary Virginia (Roda) Maher, known to her family and friends as Virginia or “Ginny,” passed into eternal rest on January 18, 2018, having just celebrated her ninety-third birthday a month before.
Ginny was born in Akron, Ohio, the third child and only daughter of George W. and Irene L. (Abele) Reeder.
In November of 1944, Ginny’s oldest brother brought an Army Air Force friend to their home in Gary, Indiana, on their way to the Pacific Theater. The friend was Frank Edward Roda, and Ginny and he would be married after the war on November 16, 1946.
Ginny’s life and love were her family, with which she was greatly blessed. She and Mr. Roda had seven children, Joseph (Elizabeth), Frank (Susan), David (Mary Kay), Stephen (Sherri), John (Ann), Teresa (Kevin), and Paul.
Mr. Roda died unexpectedly on July 25, 1973, and Ginny later met and married Richard J. Maher, on May 8, 1976, with whom she shared forty-one years of marriage. Richard, himself a widower, had three children from his first marriage, Tom, Edward (Leslie), and Virginia, and Ginny welcomed them as her eighth, ninth, and tenth children.
Ginny was also blessed with twenty-three grandchildren: Michael, Daniel, Joseph, Joshua (Laura), Anastasia, Frank (Aleksandra), Andrew, David, Karen (Sebastian), Stevie, Abbie, Tyler, John, Brian, Matthew, Mary Katharine, Emma, Dominic, Joshua (Cindy), Luke, Nicholas, Gregory (Jacqueline), and Lauren (Daniel), as well as six great-grandchildren, Olivia, Ava, Elowyn, Camryn, Linden, and Nicolas, and two more great-grandsons due in a matter of weeks .
In addition to her first husband, her two brothers, George William (“Bill”) Reeder, and Paul Edward Reeder, as well as her grandson Michael G. Nast, preceded her in death.
Ginny was a devout Roman Catholic, belonging over the years to St. Anne’s, Sacred Heart, and St. Leo the Great parishes. She was a steadfast believer in prayer, with a rosary never far from her hands. Many were the persons blessed with her prayers, and her faith sustained her through a number of medical setbacks over the years, which she met with courage and dignity.
Nothing pleased her more than time with her family. No visit from any of them was ever too long. No call was insignificant or unappreciated. She and her husbands also had many good and cherished friends, with whom they spent many happy moments.
Ginny was also known for her generosity: few sympathetic causes, for people or animals, escaped her.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2018 at 11AM at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church 2427 Marietta Ave., Lancaster, PA 17601 with The Rev. Bernardo Pistone as Celebrant. The family will receive friends at a viewing Monday evening January 22nd at Charles F. Snyder, Jr. Funeral Home & Crematory 3110 Lititz Pike from 6PM-8PM with a Recitation of the Holy Rosary at 8PM. A second viewing will be held at the Church from 10AM-11AM prior to Mass. Interment will be in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, contributions would be appreciated to the Dominican Monastery, 1834 Lititz Pike, Lancaster, PA 17601, and Pet Pantry of Lancaster County, 26 Millersville Road, Lancaster PA 17603.