Frieda Pettibon Hollihan
Frieda Pettibon Hollihan 93, of Center Twp., passed away on Saturday, April 6, 2024 in Celebration Villa of Chippewa. She was born in Rochester, PA on June 9, 1930 a daughter of the late Arthur & Hazel Pettibon. She was a graduate of Wilson College where she earned a Bachelors Degree in education. She taught at numerous school districts, eventually retiring from Pennsburg High School where she was the Chairman of the Social Studies Department. In her free time, she loved to golf. Frieda was a member of Faith Community United Methodist Church in Rochester.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Harry Hollihan; 4 brothers: Lee Owen, William Glen, George Thomas, and LaVerne Arthur Pettibon and her sister Evelyn P. Burnham.
She is survived by 11 beloved nieces and nephews.
As were her wishes, there will be no viewing.
Private interment will take place in Bethel Cemetery.
The family wishes to thank the nurses and staff from Celebration Villa and Grane Hospice for the wonderful care given to Frieda.
2 thoughts on “Frieda Pettibon Hollihan”
FRIEDA PETTIBON HOLLIHAN
We would like to share a joint memory, tribute, and celebration of the lives of Evelyn Pettibon Burnham, Frieda Pettibon Hollihan, and all of the Pettibon and Sutherland families. Our generation, together with Frieda and Evelyn’s, share a great grandfather and many generations before. These fine ladies are an enduring inspiration to both students and family, and are now together with so many before us with our Lord.
Just this morning (8/29/25) was reminiscing about my Pennsbury High School days, & Mrs. Hollihan was one of my favorite teachers. She taught honors history and was notorious for giving the hardest tests. As a senior, I elected (was I crazy?) to take her European history course. There were only about 15 of us in that class, and all but two of us had taken a previous, junior year, history class with her. This class was more about politics, society, economics and war during the early 1800s than a timeline view of history. Mrs. H. required us to read Crane Brinton’s “Ideas and Men” for discussion purposes and I hated every word of that book! But discuss we did and it opened my eyes as to what a college-level course would be like. She gave me a “B” as my final grade, but that was an “A” in any other history class, and I was thrilled. I went on to Penn State, and always thought about and appreciated how that one class with Mrs. H. prepared me. Fifteen or so years later, while out shopping, I saw Mrs. Hollihan and told her the impact she made on me and that she was my favorite teacher. She may not have remembered me, but I never forgot her and told her so. It gave me tremendous pleasure to see her one more time.