Mast, Emily Brunk (1926-2003)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 May 26 p. 8

Birth date: 1926

text of obituary:

EMILY MAST

Emily Mast, 77, of New Holland, Pa., and formerly of Lancaster, died April 21, 2003, at Garden Spot Village after a brief battle with cancer. She was under the care of Hospice of Lancaster County. She was born to George F. and Anna Holloway Brunk in Washington, D.C.

She was a counselor, supervisor, director of professional services and acting director at Family and Children's Services in Lancaster from 1960 to 1987.

She attended Eastern Mennonite University and earned her master's degree in sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1949 and her master's degree in social work from Bryn Mawr College in 1966.

From 1949 to 1951, she served with Mennonite Central Committee in the British zone of Germany distributing food and clothing at an international service camp in the Espelkamp refugee settlement. Her experiences there were the basis for her 1951 book Espelkamp: The Mennonite Central Committee Shares in Community Building in a New Settlement for German Refugees.

She volunteered at Bird-in-Hand Self Help Store from 1985 to 1988. She served on the board of Parents Anonymous of Lancaster County from 1975 to 1980. She was a member of and served on the legislative committee of Delaware Valley Adoption Council from 1975 to 1987.

She was a member of Forest Hills Mennonite Church, National Association of Social Workers from 1966 to 1987 and the Register of Clinical Social Workers from 1975 to 1978.

In 1988, she was named Lancaster County Social Worker of the Year. In 1990, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Lancaster County Program Unit of the National Association of Social Workers.

Survivors include three daughters, Mary Pat Mast, Karen M. Smith, and Phyllis L. Ashline and her husband, John R., all of Lancaster; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Marie Hodel of New Holland and Irma Ogburn of Biglerville.