Mary Eleanor Wittwer

Mary E. Wittwer, 98, of Overland Park, Kansas went to be with her Heavenly Father on Saturday, October 24, 2015. Arrangements will be at the Mount Moriah, Newcomer, & Freeman Chapel, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri, www.mtmoriah-freeman.com. Viewing will be from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM on Saturday, October 31, at Bethany Lutheran Church, 91st and Lamar, in Overland Park. Interment will be at Mount Moriah Cemetery, Garden Mausoleum, 10507 Holmes in Kansas City, next to her husband of 65 years, Harry Wittwer, who passed away in 2006.

Mary is survived by her son Steve Wittwer of Chicago, Illinois; nephew William Tranos and his wife Connie of Kankakee, Illinois; niece Barbara Mammoser of Huntley, Illinois; nephew Dennis Celeschi of Oak Park, Illinois; as well as nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews in the Chicago and Fort Wayne, Indiana areas.

Mary was born in Chicago on October 1, 1917, the daughter of Anacleto and Maria Celeschi, third of their five children. After two years in Chicago, the family settled near downstate Gibson City, Illinois, where she graduated from Drummer Township High School as salutatorian of her senior class. She worked at the local department store in Gibson City, then at a legal firm in Bloomington, Illinois until she married Harry in July, 1941.

With the onset of the Second World War, Mary followed her husband, after he had enlisted in the Army Air Corps, around the country while he trained to be a pilot. After his 20 months of training, while her husband served in the South Pacific, she moved to Fort Wayne, Harry’s hometown, where she stayed with and tended to his parents and while working full time for the three years he was stationed overseas.

After the War, the couple moved back to Bloomington, where she again worked full time to support her husband while he pursued his education at Illinois Wesleyan University. When their son Steve was born in 1950, she became a stay-at-home mom. The family moved several times, to Skokie, Illinois and Brookfield, Wisconsin, before finally settling in Overland Park in 1970.

Mary was an elegant lady in every respect. She was an avid bridge player and, for many years, was active in the Deborah Circle, a women’s group at Bethany, serving as a hand bell player in the choir and assisting with the preparation of Braille tracts for distribution to the Blind.

In lieu of flowers, Mary has requested that donations be made to the Andrew Sabo Foundation through Bethany Lutheran Church or to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, www.alzfdn.org.