Mary Pearce Shaffer

October 29, 2022, Mary P. Shaffer (nee Pearce); of Sha-Hill Farm - Parkton, beloved wife of the late Carl E. Shaffer Sr.; devoted mother of Carl E. Shaffer, Jr. (Jay) and his wife Kristin; cherished grandmother of Carlie and Jason Shaffer, devoted sister of Robert Pearce and his wife Gloria, Sally Pearce and the late Gordon Pearce and Charlotte Belt.

Mary was born on August 19, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland. She briefly lived in Arizona and Atlanta in her early 20s but came back to Maryland and her roots.  She passed away at her home of over 50 years on Yeoho Road, after living a very full and active life full of devoted family and loving friends.

Mary had a life-long love of horses that began as a very young girl on her family farm known as Clifford Farm in Monkton, MD.  Her father Gordon trained racehorses and as Mary would tell it “all the other kids wanted bicycles but all I wanted was a horse”.  This love of horses continued and evolved her whole life, and she was still riding into her late 70s and still owned Tullow, her retired hunter on the day of her passing.

Mary married Carl in 1970 and together they shared their love of fox hunting with the Elkridge Harford Hunt Club (EHHC) where Mary was a long-time member and served as Honorary Hunt Secretary. In the 70s and 80s, Carl and Mary would hunt with Elkridge on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and then hunt with Mt Carmel Hounds, a pack started by Carl, another 2 days a week. Mary retired from hunting only a few years ago but was still very active with EHHC and Mt. Carmel. On the day of her passing, Mary had just returned from an EHHC event where she saw many of her longtime friends.

Mary’s other lifelong passion was Tennis. On any given week she played at least a couple of times up until the day before her passing. And if she wasn’t playing tennis, she was watching it on the Tennis Channel, she loved “her boy Nadal” as she would call him.  She also loved animals and always had an assortment of cats, chickens, and guineas running around her farm.

Mary worked office support roles throughout her career including a long stint with Pegasus Air Horse Transport. These roles had to be balanced with horse showing and eventing and the constant training and preparation for the same. But of all of her accomplishments, she was most proud of her son, Jay, and her two grandchildren, Carlie and Jason.

A private funeral service will be held on Thursday, November 10th with Interment at her beloved Clifford Farm.

A Celebration of Mary’s Life will be held at the Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club, 3405 Pocock Road, Monkton MD 21111 on Saturday, November 12, 2022, starting at 5 PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Mary’s name may be made to the Jacob Armacost Foundation, c/o Chris Cavey, P.O. Box 430, Hampstead, MD 21074. Jacob is the son of a family friend and information about Jacob's story can be found in an article in the Carroll County Times.   https://www.gofundme.com/f/jacob-armacost-foundation-inc

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