Mary Elmina Lahr Maslak

1917–2010

Raleigh, NC – Mary L. Maslak, 93, of 806 Springmoor Drive, Raleigh, died in her sleep on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 in the Stewart Health Center at Springmoor Retirement Community.

Born in 1917 in Sioux City, Iowa, to Harry Wilson Lahr and Phoebe Louthan Hillmon Lahr, Mary graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Iowa in 1940. She became the first woman to receive a scholarship to the University of Iowa Law School and, after completing her first year, was invited to write for the Iowa Law Review. Owing to financial pressures, she left law school to take a job with the US Census Bureau in Washington, DC, where she met government co-worker Samuel O. Maslak. They married in 1945.

As a wife, mother and homemaker in suburban Maryland, Mary actively worked to improve her community. She founded the Silver Hill Road Committee. Under her direction the committee was responsible for widening an overcrowded two-lane road, which fronted three public schools and was hazardous to schoolchildren, into a modern four-lane highway with median strip, sidewalks and traffic lights. She received the Sears Roebuck Community Service Award for this improvement. She was also responsible for securing a county ordinance that required gravel trucks to cover their loads with tarpaulins. This effort resulted in safer roadways by eliminating rocks and debris falling on the highways or damaging moving vehicles. She obtained a city ordinance that limited pigeon breeding, thereby reducing the human respiratory hazards from fecal droppings. She was additionally successful in blocking the development of substandard apartment buildings near Andrews Air Force Base.

In a time when “preserving open spaces” had few advocates, Mary initiated a civic action to preserve the botanically rare Suitland bog. The bog was ultimately placed under the control of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission as a Protected Open Space. Mary was always interested in and worked for her political party of choice. She was an active member of the League of Women Voters. She served as Democratic Precinct Captain and helped launch the political career of US Congressman Steny Hoyer (presently House majority leader). She also served as a volunteer and officer in many other community organizations.

Mary had an adventurous spirit and enjoyed trying new things. She had her first ski lesson at age 69. At the age of 74, Mary survived a week-long rafting and camping trip down the Colorado River in 115o heat. She loved nature and adopted birding and photography as hobbies. She won 1st prize in a photo contest for a picture of an iguana she took on a trip to the Galapagos Islands. She taught herself to use personal computers when she was in her late 60’s and continued using them actively for personal finance, correspondence and research until she was 91. She traveled the world extensively later in life and relished her new experiences.

Mary regarded her greatest accomplishment to be her four loving children and she was always engaged in their education and lives. She served six terms as President of the elementary- and high-school Parent Teachers Associations. Under her energetic leadership, attendance at the high school PTA rose from very few to over 300 per meeting. She served as the neighborhood Chairman for Girl Scouts and was a Cub Scout den mother for nine years. She mobilized 300 volunteers to administer the Salk polio vaccine to 14,000 local residents.

Mary is survived by her children Margaret M. Hedstrom of Raleigh, NC, Samuel H. Maslak of Vail, CO, and Paul N. Maslak of Irvine, CA and by her four grandchildren Timothy and Nicholas Hedstrom, Lisa Ide and Kristi Maslak, by her two step granddaughters Kristina Piacente and Stephanie Gross, as well as by three great grandchildren and six step-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 38 years, Samuel Onile Maslak; son, John H. Maslak; and grandson, Samuel B. Hedstrom.

A memorial service will be held on August 21, 2010 at 2 pm in the Auditorium of the Springmoor Retirement Community. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Interment will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, MD.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Mary L. Maslak to the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org/donate), P.O. Box 11454, Alexandria, VA 22312.

Condolences or remembrances of Mary may be sent to the family at www.mem.com where photos of Mary are available for viewing.