Mary Margaret Obler

Mary immigrated to the United States in 1947. She lived and worked in NYC, NY with her Aunt Ann and her sister, Rosemary. Mary earned her B.S. in English from Fordham University in 1955. In 1956, Mary married Henry Obler, in a double wedding, with Rosemary and Frank Haslach. This was only fitting, as the couples had met on the tennis courts, and the gentlemen had asked the ladies to play doubles. Mary was working as a Comedy Writer for television in 1957, when their daughter, Diana was born. Henry started working for Bell Labs and the family moved to New Jersey. In 1962, their son, David was born. The family moved to Maryland in 1964. In the early 1970’s, Mary earned a degree in Education from the University of Maryland, and she worked as a Substitute Teacher in the Public School System. Mary later worked as an Administrative Assistant in Washington, D.C. for International Nickel and the American Mining Congress. In 1988, Mary earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Maryland. She secured a job as a Chemist with the United States Department of Agriculture, and continued to work there until her retirement in 1995. Mary and Henry moved to Arizona in 1996, where Mary continued her education with classes in Spanish, French, and Computer Science. Saturday meetings with her French discussion group brought Mary a great deal of pleasure. A fantastic wife and mother, Mary valued education, and taught her children to read before they entered school. Mary adored sharing holidays and weekend dinners with family and friends. When someone needed assistance, she was ready, willing, and able to give it. Intriguing, petite, and lovely to the end, Mary was a remarkable woman. She was full of life, fun loving, colorful, cheerful, warm, and caring. Mary had an incredibly adventurous soul and loved to travel the globe. She excelled at skiing and tennis, and loved to dance with her husband. Mary cherished life and we will all miss her dearly. Mary is survived by her children; Diana (Herman) Van Elburg-Obler of Ellicott City, MD, David (Shari) Obler of Laurel, MD, grandchildren; Topaz, Erik, Sonja, Kevin, Rachel, and great-grandchildren; Cedar and Sage.