Margaret Stettner

Margaret (Galio) Stettner, 86 of Palmerton, formerly of Slatington passed away on Wednesday October 20, 2021 at St. Luke’s Hospital, Lehighton Campus due to complications from Covid and Parkinson’s.  Born in Slatington on October 30, 1934 she was the daughter of the late Henry A.  and Helen M. (Scott) Galio.  Margaret graduated from Slatington High School in 1952, and Moravian College in 1959.  She was the wife of the late Ludwig P. Stettner who passed away in 2006.
Margaret’s great joy in life was playing and teaching piano.  For over six decades beginning at the age of 19 she was self-employed as a piano teacher, and taught hundreds of children and adults in the Northern Lehigh area how to play piano.  Margaret was herself a life-long student as well taking piano lessons, beginning at the age of 11, from the late Burnetta Rauch in Slatington and later from the late Ralph Kemmerer and Anne Ettinger, both of Allentown.  She enjoyed playing piano right up until a few years ago when Parkinson’s robbed her of the ability to properly move her fingers.  In addition to teaching piano she split her time between being a homemaker and working for many years as a cashier in her father’s grocery store, Galio’s Market.  Margaret was always a snappy dresser, taking after her father.  She was always wearing either dresses or pants suits, and did not own a pair of jeans.  In her spare time she also enjoyed feeding and identifying birds in her back yard, was a weather geek before the term was coined, and loved cats.  Margaret had cats as pets her entire adult life, Tweety, Puffin, T.C, and EG. She was a faithful diarist, logging each day into her dairy the temperature, weather and family events.  A self- proclaimed chocaholic, Margaret like all things chocolate.  She would especially enjoy shopping at Josh Early Candies, or receiving their assorted pound box as a gift.   As Margaret approached middle age, she began walking for exercise, and would regularly walk three miles a day in any weather. Margaret was a long-time faithful member of St. Nicholas Catholic Church, Walnutport, attending Sunday mass regularly and then daily mass after her husband passed.
She is survived by sons:  John A. and Robert S. both of Slatington; nieces and nephews, and her beloved cat EG.    She was predeceased by a brother Henry A. Galio Jr.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 AM on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, at St. Nicholas Catholic Church, 1152 Oak Road, Walnutport.  Family and friends may pay their respects from 6 to 8 PM on Tuesday October 26, 2021, at Harding Funeral Home, 25-27 N. Second Street, Slatington, PA.  Interment to follow at Assumption BVM Cemetery, Slatington.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Nicholas Catholic Church.