Mary Martha McNeel

Mary Martha Luke McNeel passed away peacefully at home on October 11. She was born on August 16, 1948 and was preceded in death by her mother, Martha Hildebrand Luke, her father Ed Luke, her aunt Nancy Hildebrand Bredenberg Duncan, and her Madrina, Ignazia Zuniga Saavedra "Nachita" whom Mary Martha described as a wisdom teacher. She married Pleas McNeel in 1978.

Mary Martha grew up in the lush setting of Rio Vista Dairy Farms on the Medina River alongside her extended family which included her sister Anne Elizabeth (known as Pee Wee), her parents, her cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents.

She attended Saint Marys Hall and Alamo Heights High School where she graduated in 1966. She had a varied and interesting college experience attending the University of Texas, the University of the Americas in Mexico City, TCU, and Texas Lutheran College.

Her extensive travels in her youth would inform her lifes path forever. After the tragic death of her mother, she was entertained by Tom Slick who told her stories of magical beings he had experienced in the Himalayas, and she was transfixed. When the time was right, she made the journey. She traveled to the UK, then to Germany, where she boarded a bus and then traveled to Greece, Turkey, India, Nepal (Kathmandu), Afghanistan, Singapore, London, and New York City. While traveling in the Himalayas, she received Shaktipat (a direct transmission of third eye spiritual energy from a Yogi to a student) from a spiritually achieved Yogi whom she encountered in a cave above the Kali Temple.

She paused for a few months and roomed with her cousin Nancy Fly in upstate New York, and then eventually found her way back home to San Antonio where she further developed her spiritual practice. She taught healthy cooking classes, Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi, gardened extensively, and tried to make the world a more positive and supportive place wherever and whenever she could.

From 2004-2008 she was personal assistant to Dr. Roger Jahnke O.M.D. at the Omega Institute for Holistic Healing in Rhinebeck, New York.

From 2007 through 2021 she was employed by the University of the Incarnate Word. She taught Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi classes, and managed the Connections Outreach Program from the Village at Incarnate word. She was much loved by her students, her family and her many friends who have posted kind tributes to her on her Facebook page.

Mary Martha McNeel is survived by her husband of 43 years, Pleas McNeel III; her step-son Pleas McNeel IV (Catherine); her sister Anne Elizabeth Luke Pennypacker; her niece Elizabeth Petty; her nephew Christopher Petty (Emilie); and the cousins she grew up with: Rollin D. Bredenberg, Nancy Fly Bredenberg Guenther, and Ed Bredenberg Duncan.

Mary Marthas family invite you to her service on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Mission Burial Park South, 1700 SE Military Dr, San Antonio, TX 78214.

You may make a contribution through Mary Martha's GoFundMe page https://gofund.me/a9c913fb .