3 Time Cancer Survivor, Former Hauppauge Cheerleader Penny Schowalter Dies

Margaret (Penny) Penelope Schowalter (Zeliff), a three-time survivor of cancer, died on Oct. 6 of complications from cancer.

According to her obituary on Legacy.com, Schowalter, born in Hartford Conn. in 1942, was a former cheerleader at Hauppauge High School and later became a nurse. She attended Pilgrim State Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1963 with a nursing license.

She worked at Pilgrim State and Smithtown Hospital until entering the Air Force in 1965 and served during the Vietnam War. She met her husband Frank while in the service. They lived in several different places throughout the world before settling in Bedford, MA in 1984.

She is survived by husband her husband of 41 years Hank Schowalter, her daughter Kathleen Shawn Schowalter of New York City, and son David Scott Schowalter of Bedford. To read her entire obituary, click here. 

The family requests that in lieu of flowers contributions be made in her memory to the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center at Emerson Hospital-Bethke, 131 ORNAC, J ohn Cuming Bldg., Suite 200, Concord, MA 01742.