At her wish, a private memorial has been held and no further service is planned.
Mary died of complications following heart surgery on Wednesday, March 16th, 2016. She was an excellent mother, lover of travel, and had an interest in new modern ideas and politics. She will be missed.
Mary grew up in the Los Angeles area. She spent a lot of time on the beach at Crystal Cove with her family. She learned to sail while quite young, in a boat that she and her sister made with their father at home.
As a teenager, she sailed with her sister and father in a small boat to Hawaii in the Trans-Pac yacht race, quite an adventure!
She was very proud of her education at UCLA. After college she taught dance and physical education in high school.
She met her future husband, Warren Newswanger, at a dance class in junior high. They attended Marshall high school together in L.A., and were married following the war.
They had a son, David, while Warren was in medical training. They settled in Santa Maria, where they lived for 10 years.
Mary was an excellent mother. She was very deliberate in planning educational experiences for her son. She was always home when David came home from school. She was very dedicated, attending many sports events, school, and scouting activities in support of her son. She continued to support him and her grandchildren until her death.
Mary was active in politics, serving in the League of Women Voters, as well as political campaigns, while a young woman.
She always stayed on top of current events, including this year’s upcoming elections. She also served on the National Panhellenic Council, and on the boards of several charitable organizations.
After her divorce, she lived with David in Santa Barbara, but went back to school at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1978.
She returned to Santa Barbara and became an accountant at General Research Corporation in Santa Barbara, where she worked for about 20 years. After retirement, she moved to Morgan Hill, where she has lived for 19 years. She has enjoyed Morgan Hill, and the friendships she made there, quite a lot.
She was a docent at Bonfonte Gardens, and an active line dancer.
Mary enjoyed travel. She took many trips in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, including a highlight trip to Peru. More recently, she has been on several cruises, including her favorite, a trip up the Danube River where she completed one of her “bucket list items”, eating a Sacher Tort in Vienna.
She recently taught her grandchildren how to do the hula, while in Kauai.
Last summer, she visited her sister in Alaska, where they went sailing as a memory of their sailing trip across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii in 1947.
Mary lived a full life. She is remembered with love by her surviving sister, Joanne, son, David, daughter-in-law, Susanne, and three grandchildren, Sarah, Paul, and Carolyn.
