Grace Falcone Barney, 96, of Havertown, PA, passed away Thursday, May 8, 2025, at Saunders Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Penn Wynne, PA. Born in Bangor, PA, Grace was the daughter of Maria Antonia (Falcone) and Pellegrino B. Falcone.

Formerly of Bangor and Bethlehem, PA, Grace was born December 20,1928, She was a 1946 graduate of Bangor High School and attended Hahnemann Hospital School of Nursing in Philadelphia, and Churchman's Business School in Easton, PA, after which she was an office nurse for R.W. Fritzsche, DO, in Bangor for many years.

Later in her career, she served as a ward clerk at Cedarbrook Fountain Hill Nursing Home in Lehigh County and volunteered in the nurse's office at Liberty High School in Bethlehem.

Grace is the youngest daughter of Maria Antonia (Falcone) and Pellegrino B. Falcone. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kent Barney, in 2002; her oldest brother Benjamin (Louise) Falcone; sister Antoinette (George) Kopko; her older brother Domenic (known as Tommy) Falcone, who was killed in action at 19 aboard the USS Franklin in the Pacific Theater in 1945; her in-laws Jerome and Natalie Barney; her brother-in-law Alan Barney; her great nephew Mark Radcliffe; her great niece Charlotte Grace Radcliffe and her son in law Paul R. Mehne. She took being a member of a Gold Star family very seriously, and never stopped expressing admiration for her family's sacrifice and service.

She is survived by her children Carol (Starner) Mehne of Havertown and Thomas (Patricia) Starner of Philadelphia; her granddaughters Meredith Mehne (Brian Yowell) of Missoula, MT; Amy Sanitate (Vito) of Chadds Ford, PA; Nina Starner of Philadelphia; her great grandchildren Noelle Sanitate and Sawyer Yowell, as well as sisters-in-law Jeralie Walters and Judy Bush; several Walters, Barney, Mundy, Radcliffe, and Gruber nieces and nephews and their families, and one first cousin, Anthony Caponigro of Roseto, PA, who shares her Italian immigrant heritage.

Grace was blessed with many good friends, coworkers and relatives from the East coast to California. She was known for her beautifully handwritten notes and cards, fabulous memory, and a solid faith that got her through many crises.

As a young mother in 1950, she was grateful to have survived polio, defying predictions she would never walk again. After being paralyzed and hospitalized for three months while her parents took care of her 17 month old daughter, Grace regained her leg strength and was thrilled to add her son Tom to her family in 1952. She maintained good relationships with her children's paternal family in good times and bad. She took care of her husband Kent for many years as he battled several cancers, even as they both took care of their own mothers in their last years.

Grace loved her computer and the Internet and wrote her own daring autobiography at 90 (self-published in hard cover). She created scrapbooks for her children and grandchildren that everyone turns to when we need to remember what happened when.

Family and friends are welcome to celebrate Grace's life at Pearson Funeral Home, 1901 Linden Street, Bethlehem, PA 19017, on June 7 at 11:30 a.m.

Contributions in her memory can be sent to Easterseals of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1501 Lehigh Street, Suite 201, Allentown, PA 19013, or to the GV Scholarship Fund (with the Charlotte Grace Radcliffe Memorial Scholarship in the memo line), Great Valley High School, 225 Phoenixville Pike, Malvern PA, 19355, Attn: Counseling.