Mary Lovelace

November 1924 - May 2020 Resident of San Jose

Our dear mother, Mary Lovelace, passed away May 3rd at the age of 95. She spent her last three weeks at home with her family and passed peacefully with her children at her side. Mom was always upbeat, kind and so very loving; she was love personified. In her last days she told us often that she was the luckiest person in the world to have had the life and family she had. Of course, we feel we were the lucky ones to have had her as our Mom, Granny and GG.

Mary was born in Cincinnati to George and Anna (Bruckmann) Schraffenberger. She is the last of her generation on both sides of our family. In 1949, a few years after graduating from the University of Cincinnati she took a position as a teacher at a military base on Guam, where she met our dad, Ralph Lovelace, who passed in 2006. Her stories and pictures from that island setting are filled with romance and adventure, including travel throughout Asia, an area she returned to several times in her life.

After settling in San Jose in 1954, she returned to teaching and taught Kindergarten in the SJUSD at Longfellow, Hester and Schallenberger, retiring in 1985. She was a much beloved teacher and touched the lives of hundreds of children, many of whom remained in contact with her over the years.

She is survived by her five children: Lu Anna, Leesa, Megan (Kay Knowles), Doug (Gudrun Stoffelmayr), Mark (Greta Blixt), and her six grandchildren, one great grandchild and one on the way. If you wish to make a donation on her behalf we recommend contributing to KQED TV - she was a dedicated viewer and supporter of the station.