Obituary of Anastasia McMahon Fenton

Anastasia McMahon Fenton passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, March 31, 2022. Born December 5, 1942 in Ridgway, PA.  Stacey, as she was known by all, was the daughter of Mary Margaret and Thomas McMahon.  She graduated from St. Leo’s High School in Ridgway, and attended Villa Maria College in Erie, PA where she earned a B.S. in Nursing.  She started her career as a Public Health Nurse in the Rensselaer, County Health Department.  She also worked as a school nurse and a private duty nurse.  Her main focus was always helping others, and raising her family.  She had a strong Christian faith in God that helped shape the life she led.  She was a dedicated community volunteer and served as the President of the Charlton Heights PTA, the Charlton Garden Club and an active member of the Charlton Historical Society.   She was also the President of Community Human Services, as well as a Board Member for many years.  She was instrumental in launching the highly successful Monopoly Madness fundraiser.  She worked tirelessly to help those in need, including neighbors, church members, friends and even strangers she met.

As an avid gardener she beautified every garden she touched.  As an eternal optimist about gardens, she loved to raise flowers from seeds, plant pansies with her grandchildren, and stop at every nursery along her travels.  She spent many hours tending to her English gardens and vegetable beds.  She traveled far and wide to tour gardens, attend primrose conferences, and seek out native plants and trees, frequented many local nurseries to pick up perennials that she loved to share with her kids or plant them in their garden while they were away.  She loved being out in nature and took every opportunity to share that love with her children and grandchildren. Even this winter, she could be seen sledding down her back hill with the grandkids, followed by making them all hot cocoa to warm up.

Her family was always her first priority.  She still baked birthday cakes, made costumes for Halloween, hemmed pants for school uniforms, and always had some extra smart wool socks for every family member. 

Stacey also loved to travel and as the children grew independent, she travel with Bob to many international conferences and made friends in many lands.

Stacey is survived by her loving husband of 55 years Robert (Bob) and her six children:  Robert Fenton (Monica), Colleen Phalen (Gregg), Jill Dunkel, Scott Fenton (Linda), Dan Fenton (Amy) and Meghan Fenton.  Her cherished eleven grandchildren: Camden Phalen, Stacia Phalen, Thomas Phalen, Katherine Phalen, Fiona Dunkel, Charlotte Dunkel, Parker Fenton, Grace Fenton, Bailey Fenton, Carley Fenton and Aiden Dodd will miss all their special moments with grandma.  Stacey is also survived by her brothers Denny McMahon (Johna) and Tom McMahon, her in-laws Dennis Fenton (Linda), Patricia (Robert) Hebenstreit and Stella Fenton.

The family would love to see friends and relatives from 4 to 8 PM on Monday April 4 at the Glenville Funeral Home (9 Glenridge Rd, Glenville, NY 12302). A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St Joseph’s Church, 600 State Street, Schenectady, New York 12305 on Tuesday, April 5th at 9:30 AM. Burial will be private for the family.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Charlton Historical Society (2009 Maple Avenue, Charlton, NY 12019), St Joseph’s Church or to a charity of your choice. Online condolences may be made at glenvillefuneralhome.com