Marie Yoder Wenner was born in Souderton, Pennsylvania, the seventh of nine children, and spent her working life in Christian education alongside her husband, Rev. Nelson Jerome Wenner, in churches and camps across central and eastern Pennsylvania. In retirement she took up watercolor, gardening and poetry, taught painting throughout Huntingdon County, and self-published three books of poems. To her family she was Honey — a name her granddaughter Christine gave her after hearing Nelson use it.

She sent her paintings out into the world as postcards and note cards, and she taught her grandchildren to be creative, to find humor in small things, to help when they could, and to stay flexible.

Timeline

• 1930Born December 21 in Souderton, Pennsylvania, seventh of the nine children of Paul Freed Yoder and Katie Hunsicker Yoder.
• 1936The Yoder clan gathers in Souderton — the first family photograph she appears in.
• 1942Age 11, fifth grade in Souderton. Her earliest surviving artwork is from this school year.
• 1945Sophomore year; confirmed at Zwingli United Church of Christ, Souderton.
• 1948Graduates from Hilltown Township High School, then works two years to save for college — part of it in a stocking factory, making special stockings for the singer Kate Smith.
• 1949A year in Brethren Volunteer Service, Mount Airy, North Carolina; summer at Camp Fernbrook.
• 1950Follows her older sister Millie to Schauffler College for Women in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1954Graduates from Schauffler with a degree in Christian Education and Social Work. A week later, on June 13, she marries Rev. Nelson Jerome Wenner at Zwingli Reformed Church in Souderton, with the reception at the Yoder house.
• 1956Son Mark is born. The young family moves between Newtown Square and Altoona, Pennsylvania.
• 1959Teaches at the Warminster UCC nursery school.
• 1961Daughter Karen and the household are settled in Warminster.
• 1963Son Jim joins the family; the Wenners move to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
• 1967Summers at Seven Mountains Scout Camp; years of church camps follow — Blue Diamond, Mench Mill, Camp Oaks.
• 1970The family settles at the Fairbrook house.
• 1979Returns to school as an adult and earns a Master's degree in Counselor Education from Penn State, then adds elementary school counselor to a career already built on Christian education, curriculum writing, workshops and training.
• 1982Moves to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, to serve as Christian Education Director at the First Congregational Church.
• 1987New England summers at Dan Hole Pond, Ossipee. Two of the paintings here are signed this year.
• 1988Karen marries Chris in Switzerland wearing Marie's wedding gown; Marie shows work at an art show in Harrisburg.
• 1989Granddaughter Christine, hearing Nelson call Marie "Honey," repeats it — and the name sticks for the rest of her life.
• 1994Retirement years at Neffs Mills, Pennsylvania: painting, gardening, poetry, grandchildren.
• 2002Her studio at Neffs Mills is photographed full of framed watercolors, note cards and prints. She teaches watercolor classes across Huntingdon County and is a devoted member of the Standing Stone Art League and the Friends of the Hartslog Heritage Museum.
• 2004June 13: fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration with all five grandchildren, Fogelsville, Pennsylvania.
• 2006Moves to Homewood Retirement Community in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania.
• 2011Nelson dies on January 26 after fifty-six years of marriage.
• 2015Receives the Schauffler Legacy Award at Defiance College, Ohio, with her sister Betty. She drafts the poems In My Mind and Two Advantages the same year.
• 2021The grandchildren gather at McAlevys Fort, each holding one of her paintings.
• 2023Ninety-third birthday in Columbia, Pennsylvania, her last home, at St. John's Herr Estate.
• 2025December 21: her ninety-fifth birthday, in Columbia.
• 2026Great-granddaughter Marlo Willis Wenner is born March 14. Marie dies peacefully on August 13, at 95. She self-published three books of poetry in her lifetime.