Obituary of Mary Surkamer

Mary Louise Neu Surkamer, 98, of Roanoke died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, April 21, 2012. She was the widow of Joseph Surkamer. She leaves behind her brother, John Neu and his wife Lois of Summerfield, Florida, her sister, Julie Wall of Idaho Falls, Idaho; a son, Joseph Surkamer, Jr. and his wife Joan of Roanoke; daughters, Joanne Calhoun of Charleston, SC; Fran Gellman and her husband Arnold of Hilton Head, SC and New Bedford, Mass.; and Suzette Surkamer of Hilton Head, SC; grandchildren, Brandi Holbrook and her husband Jason, and their children, Trevor, Reece, and Meredith of Millinton, TN; Joseph Surkamer, III his wife Lauren and their children Jack and Lincoln of Greenville, SC; Jennifer Campbell, her husband Brett and their children, Allison and Andrew of Tulsa, OK; Paul A. Calhoun, Jr. his wife Kim and their children, Connor and Jordan of Burlington, VT; and Christina Olsen and their husband the Rev. Erick Olsen and their children Elias, Ellie, and Olivia of Norfolk, CT; Patricia Gellman of Sausalita, CA; Catherine Hersacher and her husband Christian of Aiken, SC. Mary, known for her dry wit, was born in San Antonio, Texas and spent most of her childhood in Chicago and Warrenville, Illinois. She was an administrative assistant for many years to the Chief of Dietetics at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salem, Va. She was a member and staunch supporter of St. Andrew's Catholic Church for over 50 years. She was a volunteer with Literacy Volunteers of Roanoke, teaching people to read and was particularly proud of the Vietnamese teenagers that she helped from the time they were young and through high school and college, in particular Son Huynh and his family. She spent many hours working for the cause and on the board of, the Thursday Morning Music Club. She loved to garden and to read - her geraniums, gladiolas, and gardenias gave her and her neighbors much pleasure. She loved water aerobics and taught it well into her eighties. Mary's chief passion in life, though, was her children, and grandchildren. She willingly sacrificed to give them a firm foundation and education and will be sorely missed by them. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation at alz.org, to Tidewater Hospice, 10 Buckingham Plantation Drive, Suite A, Bluffton, SC, 29910 or to Charleston Volunteers for Literacy 635 Rutledge Avenue suite 201 Charleston, SC 29403. Funeral mass will be held 11 a.m. Friday, April 27, 2012 at St. Andrew's Catholic Church. Interment will follow in St. Andrew's Diocesan Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Simpson Funeral Home 5160 Peters Creek Road. 366-0707