Mary was known as a Philadelphia socialite, born into a notable family and was the niece of Civil War General John Pemberton. On April 22, 1889 she married Alfred Thornton Baker with whom she had two sons, Alfred Thornton Baker Jr. and Hobart Amory Hare Baker, the famous athlete Hobey Baker. Alfred was a Princeton graduate and was in the business of upholstery manufacturing. By 1903 Alfred and Mary had separated and their divorce proceedings were reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1905. After the divorce she married Frederick Van Shutts. After his success in college sports, her son Hobey enlisted in World War I and became a fighter pilot. He was killed in France just after the end of the war in December 1918 due to an accident flying his aircraft one last time. Despite her redcued financial situation, Mary arranged to have his body was returned to Philadelphia in 1921 and buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Hobey was often been compared to an almost mythic figure, and his cousin wrote a poem lamenting his death using mythological imagery, which Mary had inscribed on his tombstone. Around that time Mary lived with her husband at the Colonial Hotel in Philadelphia at Spruce and 11th Streets. In 1940 they lived at 6930 Cresheim Road in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, and then moved to 302 E. Chelten Avenue in nearby Germantown. Frederick died in 1944 of a stroke and Mary moved to the Fairview Home for the Aged. In these later years, she lived in severely reduced circumstances compared to her early life as a prominent socialite. She became ill from cancer and in March 1948 was moved to the Sacred Heart Home hospice, where she died two days later. Her sister Augusta Ingham was the informant on her death certificate, and Mary was cremated at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, where her son and husband were buried. Her ashes were intended to be interred with them in the plot, however that is not noted in the cemetery records. Thus the disposition of her remains a mystery, but it is possible that they were quietly buried in the plot off the record for the sake of expediency.
Mary was known as a Philadelphia socialite, born into a notable family and was the niece of Civil War General John Pemberton. On April 22, 1889 she married Alfred Thornton Baker with whom she had two sons, Alfred Thornton Baker Jr. and Hobart Amory Hare Baker, the famous athlete Hobey Baker. Alfred was a Princeton graduate and was in the business of upholstery manufacturing. By 1903 Alfred and Mary had separated and their divorce proceedings were reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1905. After the divorce she married Frederick Van Shutts. After his success in college sports, her son Hobey enlisted in World War I and became a fighter pilot. He was killed in France just after the end of the war in December 1918 due to an accident flying his aircraft one last time. Despite her redcued financial situation, Mary arranged to have his body was returned to Philadelphia in 1921 and buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery. Hobey was often been compared to an almost mythic figure, and his cousin wrote a poem lamenting his death using mythological imagery, which Mary had inscribed on his tombstone. Around that time Mary lived with her husband at the Colonial Hotel in Philadelphia at Spruce and 11th Streets. In 1940 they lived at 6930 Cresheim Road in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, and then moved to 302 E. Chelten Avenue in nearby Germantown. Frederick died in 1944 of a stroke and Mary moved to the Fairview Home for the Aged. In these later years, she lived in severely reduced circumstances compared to her early life as a prominent socialite. She became ill from cancer and in March 1948 was moved to the Sacred Heart Home hospice, where she died two days later. Her sister Augusta Ingham was the informant on her death certificate, and Mary was cremated at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, where her son and husband were buried. Her ashes were intended to be interred with them in the plot, however that is not noted in the cemetery records. Thus the disposition of her remains a mystery, but it is possible that they were quietly buried in the plot off the record for the sake of expediency.
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