WILMINGTON — Mary Recupero ,age 78, passed away on February 3, 2025 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Mary was born in Seattle, Washington in 1946 to two WWII US Navy veterans (Mary Elizabeth (Wright) Owens and Charles Burr Owens.
Her parents moved the family to Meadville, Pennsylvania, a road trip story of the ages that almost settled in Great Falls, Montana, but ultimately made its terminus in Meadville. Mary grew up on Stan Road, worked at Brown Shoe Company, participated in the AV and 4-H clubs, and voraciously read and sewed her way to graduation from Meadville High School, after which she enlisted in the US Navy.
Mary met Pete Recupero in Virginia Beach while serving in the Navy. They were married in 1967 in a simple ceremony at the Justice of the Peace in which troths were pledged. When Pete deployed to Vietnam, Mary returned to Meadville, where their daughter Lisa was born in 1969. After Pete returned from his tour of duty, they moved to St. Louis, MO, where Mary took classes in anthropology, captured in writing the Recupero-family pasta sauce recipe, saw Ike & Tina Turner perform, and was the Mom who all the kids listened to when she told them not to pull the leaves off the trees because the trees had feelings too. The family spent the next decades following Pete’s career to Colorado, Illinois and New York State, where Mary worked in real estate, and ultimately joined IBM, where she worked as a secretary managing the managers. She and Pete took a few more hops with IBM one to Austin, Texas and finally Raleigh, where they both retired in 2000.
After retirement, Mary took to gardening, reading and running her eBay Empire antique resale business full-time at their home in Wake Forest, North Carolina, while Pete tinkered in the garage. She found her passion for Bonsai after they moved to Wilmington in 2005. She travelled and studied Bonsai all over the country and served as past president of the Cape Fear Bonsai Society. Mary shared her immense Bonsai collection and knowledge among many club members as she held regular workshops in her home.
A force to be reckoned with, Mary was an indomitable spirit who could not only give you the time, but the history of the watch. She did not suffer fools or bullies. She exacted the best out of you. And, if you did not deliver, she would pull her glasses down her nose at you, tap her brass key on the counter and tell you what was what. She had the most perfect penmanship, the most beautiful hands, a deep belly laugh, and a heart two sizes too big. Her guiding hand, encyclopedic knowledge, wit and silent, stalwart love will be deeply, deeply missed by her family and friends.
Mary is preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Charles, and her son-in-law, Jacob Wishard. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Pete Recupero; daughter Lisa Wishard of Gunnison, Colorado; her brother Tom Owens and wife Patty Ganyard of Pomona, Illinois; two sisters, Linda Peelman and her husband Bill, and Beth Chappell, all of Meadville, Pennsylvania; and her granddaughter Josephine Wishard, of Gunnison, Colorado.
A celebration of life will be held at a future date.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memories and condolences be shared here.
Donations be made to the ACLU or a local food pantry.
