Mary M. Natale | Clifton Heights mayor, 84

Mary Martino Natale, 84, of Lima, a former mayor of Clifton Heights, died of renal failure Thursday at Riddle Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Natale moved to Fair Acres Geriatric Center in Lima in 2004 after a lifetime in Clifton Heights. The Republican committeewoman won her first race for mayor of the Delaware County borough in 1988, beating the longtime Democrat incumbent. She held the office for 16 years, including a time after moving to Fair Acres.

In 1996 she told an Inquirer reporter that Clifton Heights was a small town with everything a person could need, "shopping, recreation, and the best Fourth of July parade and fireworks." She was on the borough's celebrations committee.

Mrs. Natale graduated from Clifton Heights High School, then worked for General Electric Co. in Philadelphia.

In 1948, she married Vincent Natale.

While raising their four children, she was a Girl Scout leader, founder and president of the Mothers Guild of Sacred Heart School, founder and president of the Clifton Heights swim team, and an organizer of the Intra-County Swim League. For many years, she ran the snack bar at the Clifton Heights Swim Club.

Mrs. Natale was also past president of Italian War Veterans Auxiliary, Post 16, and was a member of the Clifton Heights Fire Company Auxiliary.

She was a volunteer at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia and was a member of the St. Charles Borromeo Senior Citizens Club.

She is survived by a daughter, Mary Lou Strunk; sons Vincent Jr. and Joseph; three brothers; three sisters; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Her husband died in 2003 and a son, Dominic, died in 1994.

A Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Sacred Heart Church, 316 E. Broadway Ave., Clifton Heights.

Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.