Mary R. Robertson's Obituary
Mary was one of five children born to John Wesley, Sr. and Irene Marie Robertson on November 13, 1941, in Hammond, Indiana. She is predeceased by her mother, father, brothers John Jr., Frank and George and her sister and best friend Judith Irene.
Mary attended All Saints and St. Joseph schools in Hammond and graduated in 1955 from Hammond High. In 1964 she attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Her junior year (1966) was spent in Lima, Peru as a student at San Marco University in Lima. Mary graduated from Indiana University in 1967 and moved to Washington, DC and began work as an editorial assistant for a quarterly journal published for the Agency for International Development by the National Planning Association. In 1976, she moved back home to Indiana and began working for the Hammond Times newspaper as a typist/secretary. Mary returned to Indiana University, Northwest in Gary in 1981, and completed her advanced degree in Accounting. She passed the Certified Public Accountant's exam and began working in 1983 for the State of Indiana as an auditor in the Northwest Indiana area.
In 1984 she became a Cursillista and was a part of the Cursillo movement for 8 years. In 1994, Mary moved to Leesburg, Florida to work for an accounting firm. In 1998 she was hired by the Lake County School Board as an internal auditor with responsibility over 37 bookkeepers. Mary joined the Catholic Community of St. Paul in 1994 and in 1995 became a lector at the church. She was a member of the Parish Council for 4 years and the Council Secretary for one year. She became the Coordinator for Lectors. Mary was awarded the Father Killigan Award for volunteers and in 2004, Mary and Vi Pfahler began working on the church's history and to date they have completed 18 albums depicting the church's 60-year history. Mary sang in the church choir for 3 years and then joined the handbell choir.
After retiring from the school board in 2008, Mary devoted her life to others in multiple areas of service. She kept her hand in auditing with her HOA and began volunteering at her home parish of St Paul’s, washing dishes and cooking at the school, cleaning the church, became a minister to the sick, joined the National Council of Catholic Women and helped Word on Fire reinstate small group faith sharing groups throughout the parish.
Mary loved God, her church, her many friends, her pets, scrapbooking, travel, cruises and Disney world. In lieu of cards or flowers, please make a donation to St Paul’s Food Bank or the Leesburg Humane Society.
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