8/16/1936 – 9/20/2024
Lawrence
A Visitation for Mary Anne Keenan Schreck will be held at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home in Lawrence, Kansas on Wednesday, September 25th from 6:00-7:30 pm. A graveside service will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery on Thursday, September 26th at 10:00 am.
Mary, aka Mimi, tap danced her way into Heaven on Friday, September 20, 2024 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She was 88 years old. She was surrounded by the love of her husband of sixty-two years, Joe (aka Peeps), her children, and treasured grandchildren.
Mary and Joe moved from Bethlehem Twp, New Jersey to Lawrence in 2019. Mimi may have lived in Kansas these past five years, but she was always a “Jersey Girl” at heart.
She was born August 16,1936 in Teaneck, New Jersey. She was the baby of the family and was loved well by her parents Anne and Tony Keenan. She was greeted in Heaven by her parents and three siblings; Patsy, Irene, and Bobby. There is no doubt that she was also greeted by their many furry friends whom she loved and spoiled with ice cream and custom dog beds.
Mary graduated from St. Cecilia’s High School in Englewood, NJ which she had attended with her classmate, and future husband, Joseph Schreck. Mary loved her time in High School and often talked about her days as a cheerleader, football games, her many friends and becoming Homecoming Queen. After graduation, she earned her degree at Holy Name Hospital School of Nursing. She worked as a registered nurse and loved to tell us about the many babies she cared for in the newborn nursery.
While Mary and Joseph were not high school sweethearts, fate would bring them together several years later through a chance meeting in St. Louis. Despite her misgivings about “Joe Schreck from High School”, she agreed to a first date and the rest is history. He likes to say that she couldn’t resist him in his Army uniform. They married on June 8, 1963 and were blessed with their four children, Tim, Karin, David, and Allison.
Mary was a talented tap dancer and even appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour at age eleven (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeWjThJtoog She’s the 5th in from the right). She never forgot her tap routines and would often break into dance in the middle of her kitchen or the aisle of a grocery store. She loved her family, friends, shopping, giving unsolicited advice and sharing her never-ending medical knowledge. Her pocketbook always contained a hairbrush just in case your hair happened to look like a “rats nest”. She was famous for her version of the Mysterious Ingredients Chocolate Chip Cookie and her “Mother Mary’s Stew”. She was Mimi to everyone she loved and everyone loved her.
Mary is survived by her devoted husband, Joe. Born just one day before her in 1936, they are the couple that was truly a match made in Heaven. They enjoyed many summers spent at the Jersey shore and annual trips to Hilton Head. Most recently, they found great pleasure in just sitting together in their backyard watching the birds. Their love and commitment to each other was an inspiration to us all.
Mary is also survived by her son Tim and daughter-in-law Beth, daughter Karin and former son-in-law Lance, son David and daughter-in-law Patti, daughter Allison and son-in-law Mace, and her very spoiled fur child, Maizy. She is Mimi to eleven grandchildren and a great-grandson; Kerian, Heidi, Quinn, Mason, Tierney, Holly, Andie, Taylor, Gavin, Abbie, Joey and Liam. Also left to remember Mary are her extended family, many friends both from New Jersey and Kansas, and all the ladies at Hobby Lobby and Walmart. She treasured each and every one.
Rarely does one meet a woman with such dignity, principles, grace, common sense, and a joyful spirit. Mary was all that and more simply because her heart was filled with true faith and love. She will live on in all of us and will never be forgotten. rumsey-yost.com
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