Adrienne Mensak, 82, died at Reading Hospital, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, from surgical complications. She was the loving widow of John Paul Mensak, who died in 2008. Born in New Jersey and moving to California shortly thereafter, Adrienne was the daughter of the late Earnest and Clarice Pont.
Adrienne lived a distinct life. For a short time when she was a child, she lived in a tent in Topanga Canyon, CA, later moving to the Huntington Beach area, and then attended high school in Saudi Arabia while her father worked for an oil company. A beauty in her day, Adrienne was even briefly betrothed to a prince from a province in Saudi Arabia!
Adrienne did not marry the middle eastern prince but instead found her true prince in John at Rocketdyne Corp where they both worked. They married in 1958 and moved across the country to Pennsylvania where they set up roots as John pursued a successful engineering career at General Electric.
Within two years, they had their first child – a son, Christopher Paul. Adrienne raised three children and filled their home with love, putting off her own dreams to tend to her children’s dreams. Driven, Adrienne eventually pursued her goals and attended college part-time when her youngest child was in school. She graduated from Immaculata University with a bachelor’s and subsequent master’s degrees in health the same summer as her middle child, Anne, graduated with a BA from West Chester University.
Adrienne worked as a dietitian for various healthcare institutions until she retired. She was a strong and independent woman of her time and extremely caring. She took great care to always be polite, a nod to her English roots. Everyone who met her considered her a warm and loving woman – easy to talk to and always engaging with people she met whether at church, the grocery store, or her grandchildren’s sporting events.
While she was born a Protestant, Adrienne converted to Catholicism later in life and became an active member of St. Thomas Moore Parish in Pottstown, and later, St. Benedict’s Parish in Mohnton, PA.
Adrienne’s memory will be cherished by her children: Christopher Mensak of Morgantown, husband of Eleanor Mensak; and Lisa Barbadora, wife of Mark Barbadora of Downingtown; her five grandchildren (Rachel, Elizabeth, Nathan, Taylor, and Trevor); and her great grandchildren; along with her many dear friends.
In addition to her husband, Adrienne was predeceased by her daughter, Anne Melinda (Mensak) Davis. Adrienne and John lost their precious Annie to cervical cancer at the young age of 24. Adrienne was also predeceased by her older sisters, Beverly and Cynthia, and younger brother, Doug.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, January 9, 2021, at 11:00 AM at St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church, 2020 Chestnut Hill Rd., Mohnton, PA 19540, with private burial to follow at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Pottstown. A visitation will be at the church beforehand at 10:30 AM until the start of Mass. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Adrienne’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.st.jude.org/donate) or the Alzheimer’s Association (www.act.alz.org). The Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc, is entrusted with arrangements; condolences may be expressed at www.kuhnfunerahomes.com. A celebration of her life will be held later this spring to enable a larger gathering of loved ones as the COVID pandemic subsides.