Mary Erla Wolters, 1940-2024 Mary Wolters passed away at home in Earleville, Maryland on July 14. She was 84. Mary was predeceased by her beloved husband Raymond, who passed away in 2020.

Mary’s life was a panorama of the United States in her time. She was born in the heartland, Springfield, Missouri, in 1940. Her father John McCullough was a Navy man and her mother, Theodocia Serena McCullough, was a secretary in the governor’s office.

After World War II, John became a farm equipment salesman. In a page out of John Steinbeck, he moved the family (including by then Mary’s younger siblings Anne and John Jr.) to California’s Central Valley. There Mary attended high school in Stockton. Mary then attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied mathematics and physics, marched in the free speech movement, and met her future husband Raymond at a Students for Kennedy party. Mary graduated with high honors in mathematics in 1960 and married Raymond in 1962. In 1965 they moved to Newark, Delaware, where Raymond took a position as professor of American history at the University of Delaware while Mary taught high school math in the New Castle County school system. Mary also received her master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Delaware. They remained life-long Delaware Blue Hens.

In 1966 her first son Jeffrey was born, followed by Kevin in 1970 and Thomas in 1980. Mary continued to teach, primarily at Avon Grove High School in Pennsylvania.

In 1986, Mary and Ray bought their beloved “river house” at Long Point on the Bohemia River in Earleville, Maryland. They loved the sunsets, boating, crabs, classic cars, fireworks, country music — everything about the Chesapeake region. Mary drove a Dodge Challenger with Conway Twitty in the tape deck, while Ray had a ‘68 Olds Cutlass 442. In their later years they spent winters in Naples, Florida, enjoying the sunshine and the lazy river pool at their condominium complex.

Mary was an avid sports fan and reader of fiction and politics, a woman of strong opinions clearly expressed. She loved the Oakland Raiders, Rafael Nadal, Tom Brady and Ronald Reagan, not necessarily in that order. She hated blueberries.

Mary was proud of her three boys and equally of their three wives (Maria for Tom, Peggy for Kevin, and Karen for Jeff). She especially liked hosting and spoiling her four grandchildren (Andrew, Megan, Ben and Claire) on summer visits to the river house.

Mary was Ray’s strength during his long battle with lung disease, which included a successful lung transplant but ultimately took his life. After that Mary faced her own health challenges, but remained fiercely independent, living alone on the river and enjoying sports on TV, math puzzles and visits from family. She especially appreciated her many friends and neighbors in the Long Point community.

The love of Mary’s life was Ray, and she was his. She passed away at home on the Chesapeake to be with him.

Visitation will be from 9:00-10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 23 at R.T. Foard Funeral Home, P.A., 318 George Street, Chesapeake City, Maryland 21915, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 301 Lock Street, Chesapeake City, Maryland 21915 at 10:30 a.m

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