Dr. Mary Kelley-Scheer passed peacefully at her home on the early morning of May 22nd, 2026, in New Braunfels, TX surrounded by her loving family. Mary was brought into this world on January 7th, 1949 in San Antonio, TX, the youngest of 4 daughters (Judy, Jane, Diane, Mary) to James ‘Jim” and Margaret Searls.
As the daughter of an active duty U.S. Air Force Tech Sergeant, Mary spent her youth living in such places as Texas, Alaska, Guam and more. She and her family followed Jim to every part of the world he was assigned to during his service to the country. She specifically enjoyed spending time with her family and her grandparents ‘Opa’ and ‘Oma’ on the family farm in New Braunfels, TX, as she and her sisters played in the nearby pecan orchards, surrounded by the deeply engrained German culture of the area.
As a young lady of 15 in March of 1964, she was living on base in Anchorage, AL when the Good Friday Earthquake shook the ground, a whopping 9.3 on the Richter scale, the most powerful earthquake to hit North America, and the 2nd most powerful in recorded world history. Later in life, she enjoyed telling stories of that day, specifically the ground moving up and down like ocean waves.
In her teens, after moving back to Texas for the last time, Mary attended High School in the San Antonio area, graduating in 1967. She then attended Southwest Texas University in nearby San Marcos, receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in 1970 and her Masters degree in 1975. Mary then entered the education world as a teacher. Throughout her teaching career she taught on all levels, elementary up to University level in Texas, even teaching English to children in Guadalajara, Mexico in the 1970s.
Although extremely dedicated to her profession, she put her career on hold in 1978 to begin raising her son and daughter as a dedicated housewife in San Antonio for the following 20 years, teaching sporadically in the 1980s part-time at San Antonio College while her children attended school.
It was around this time that Mary discovered her passion for History, particularly Texas History. She then began reading voraciously any book she could find about the history of the Great State of Texas, even joining the Institute of Texan Cultures in downtown San Antonio as a volunteer.
As her children grew older and began attending college, she began to consider furthering her education and entering back into teaching. She enrolled in the Doctorates program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, receiving her PhD as a Doctor of Philosophy on December 16th, 2000 under the mentorship of Dr. Ben Procter.
She then went on to begin her University teaching career at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX lecturing classes on Texas History, meanwhile authoring and editing several books on the subject of Texas History. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship while at Lamar, sending her to Germany in 2004 to lecture at the University of Potsdam and conduct research on the German immigration to Texas in the 1800s. She would then return to Lamar University to continue teaching, becoming the first director of the Center for History and Culture.
After retiring in 2019, she gained the esteemed title of Professor Emiritus from the University and spent her remaining years in New Braunfels enjoying her house on the Guadalupe River, spending time with her granddaughter, volunteering at the yearly Wurstfest Festival, caring for all her fur babies, distributing books to the community, cruising in the Corvette with her husband and watching classic movies and TV series.
Mary was so proud of her family, and the fact that her two children both graduated college and went on to successful careers. She will be forever missed.
Mary was preceded in death by her first Husband Jerry Kelley and Husband Richard Scheer, her Father James Searls, Mother Margaret Searls, Sisters Diane Searls and Jane Schumacher.
Mary is survived by her sister Judy Prenez of Rancho Murieta, CA, her son Christopher Kelley of Cebu, Philippines, her daughter Sara Kelley of Boynton Beach, FL, her granddaughter Shor Mei Kelley of New York City, her nieces Michelle Prenez of Sacramento, CA, Leilani Bayer of College Station, TX, her nephews Scott Prenez of Sacramento, CA and Brett Schumacher of Tennessee. She is also survived by her late husband Richard’s children, Christopher and Marisol Scheer of San Antonio, Kathryne West of Houston, and grandchildren Richard A. Scheer and Angelica Scheer of San Antonio.
Neverending Thank You to Mary, Sheena, Elaina, Tangela, Helen, Chad at Hallmark Homecare, and the team from SunCrest Hospice for caring for Mary like their own mother.
”It is better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Funeral services will be held at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Comal/New Braunfels, TX (190 Wenzel Lane) at 10am on Saturday May 30th, 2026.
