Emily Marie Christina, aged 92, of Endicott, New York, left this world on October 27, 2021, as the result of heart failure caused by a heart attack suffered earlier this fall. She was the widow of Louis A. Christina, who died in December, 2013. She is survived by her sister (and best friend), Doris Montross, of Center Moreland, Pennsylvania; and her son and daughter-in-law, Tom and Renee Christina, of Greenville, South Carolina.
Mrs. Christina also leaves behind three beloved grandchildren and their spouses: Dr. Kerry Bullerdick and Dr. Nancy Hancock, of Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Ryan and Brenna Sheffield, residing in Atlanta, Georgia; and Lindsey and Adam Van Wagoner, of New York, New York; plus one great-granddaughter, June Sheffield, who was born earlier this year. She is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Mrs. Christina (née Motichka) was born and raised in Center Moreland, Pennsylvania. In 1949, she graduated from a nursing program at Mansfield University (then called the Mansfield State Teachers College), and completed her practicum at the Sayre/Robert Packer Hospital. Until her retirement in the 1980s, Mrs. Christina was employed as a registered nurse at the Chas. H. Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, New York.
Together with her husband, Mrs. Christina volunteered her services during the founding years of the B.C. Open, organizing and staffing the tournament’s first aid, emergency, and ambulance operations. After her retirement, she was active in the Daughters of Columbus, Lodge No. 1666, and was a volunteer at Mercy House of the Southern Tier in Endwell, New York.
Family will receive visitors and friends at a vigil, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, November 12, 2021, at the Allen Memorial Home, 511-513 East Main Street, Endicott, New York. At 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 13, 2021, a Mass of Christian Burial will be said at Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 300 Odell Avenue, Endicott, New York, followed by entombment at Riverhurst Cemetery, 308 Louisiana Ave, Endicott, New York.
For more than 67 years, Mrs. Christina was a member of the parish of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Endicott. There, through her friendship with Sister Anisia Muthoni of the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, Mrs. Christina learned of a charity that became particularly dear to her heart: the St. Francis Ministry, which builds and operates boarding schools for orphaned children in Kenya. Mrs. Christina’s family asks that in lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy be made to the St. Francis Ministry, c/o Sister Anisia Muthoni, St. Anthony’s Church, 304 Oak Hill Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760.