By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN – Audrey Ruth Everett Mount, who contributed to the community in many ways during her four-plus decades of residency in Allentown, has died. Mount, 80, passed away on May 29 at Capital Health Systems–Fuld, Trenton, following a battle with cancer.
Mount was a businesswoman, a founding member of the Allentown Business Community Association (ABCA) and a former member of the Borough Council.
According to her obituary from the Peppler Funeral Home, Mount was born on her family’s farm in Dutch Neck, a farming village in West Windsor. Mount was a 1953 graduate of Princeton High School.
In the late 1960s, Mount worked at the Bennett-Mount farm brokerage in Allentown. She moved to the borough in 1970 and remained a resident until her death. She lived in an historic home in the center of town with her husband, Arthur.
According to her obituary, Mount served for many years on the Historical Preservation Review Commission. She owned and operated the Village Stitchery and Gift Shoppe from her home, served as a den mother for Cub Scout Pack 180 and was a member of the Allentown Villagers and the “Red Hats.”
Stuart Fierstein, who served as Allentown’s mayor for more than 20 years in the 1990s and 2000s, said he had known Mount since the early 1980s. He said he met her when she owned her stitchery.
The former mayor said he eventually worked with Mount when he served as a liaison to the ABCA and meetings of the business group were held in Mount’s home.
Fierstein said Mount “was always very gracious and cordial. I found her to be a businesswoman who understood the needs of the community and understood what the South Main Street area needed to do to attract business. She was very intelligent and a great asset to Allentown.”
The former mayor said he knew Mount fought cancer several times.
“Each time, she was very strong and willed herself to come out of it and beat cancer,” Fierstein said. “I was glad to have the opportunity to work with her … and I am grateful for her contribution to the Borough Council. We have lost somebody who really dedicated their heart, soul and mind to Allentown. There was no task she could not undertake as a councilwoman, even through her illnesses. Her dedication was unquestionable.”
Mount was the daughter of the late David and Hazel Everett, and she was predeceased by her brother, Alfred. She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Arthur V. Mount; two sons and daughters-in-law, Everett A. and LoriSue Mount, and Vernon T. and Jo Ann Mount; her grandchildren, Megan Mount, Darren and Ryan Nash, Alyssa Cymbal, and Erica and Thomas Ridge; two brothers and a sister-in-law, David “Ron” and Janet Everett, and Jeffrey Everett; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Verna and Vernon Holmes, and Hazel and William Benscoter; and two sisters-in-law, Shirley Schmitt and Sylvia Borst; as well as many nieces and nephews.
Staff Writer Andrew Martins contributed to this article.
