Mary Elizabeth Wolfe

Mary Elizabeth Wolfe, age 90, loving wife, mother of three children, and grandmother, from Savanna, Illinois, died on Saturday, March 2nd, 2019 at the Carroll County Good Samaritan, Mt. Carroll. Cremation Rites have been accorded. A memorial service will be held at 12:00 Noon, Saturday, April 27, 2019 at Law-Jones Funeral Home, Savanna. A memorial gathering and luncheon will be held from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at the Savanna Moose Lodge, following the memorial service. Burial of her cremated remains will take place at a later date in the Savanna Township Cemetery, Savanna.

Mary was born on December 31, 1928 in Savanna, the daughter of Roy and Bertha (Beaver) Hummel. Her mother passed away shortly after child birth. As an infant, Mary was adopted by Henry and Ruby Winkler of Savanna. At the age of 11 Mary was informed she was adopted, and at 21 she was invited to Lanark to meet her biological family. To her surprise, she met her father Roy, who she had recognized as one of her regular drug store cafe customers. She also met four sisters and three brothers.
At this time in her early twenties, Mary was moving on from a short first marriage and walked away with a loving son, James Allen Engleking. Mary raised James as a single mom into her thirties. Train trips to see the country with James including a rodeo in Wyoming was her greatest joy at the time.

Mary worked several jobs as a single mother. On her walks along Chicago Avenue in Savanna to her railroad clerk job, she noticed a gentleman taking breaks on the porch of Law-Jones Funeral Home. The gentleman, referred to as “the friendly undertaker” started waving to her. She had met the love of her life on those walks and two years later on February 20, 1965 she married Donald Stewart Wolfe. They raised two sons, Scott and Tim. In addition, Don adopted James.

In the following decades Mary thrived as a mother creating a traditional and loving home. She could always be found in the kitchen where she found great joy in cooking but most importantly how it connected her family around the dinner table. Holidays were spent baking and decorating her home. As the boys grew older she opened her home to all of their friends and mothered them all. She created a life better than the challenges she faced with the goal of providing every opportunity for her children, and a safe loving home to come back to.

Later in life she cared for Don, who was stricken with Alzheimer’s. She selflessly spent most days at his side and was there to say goodbye to him in the end. The idea of her reunion with the “the friendly undertaker” is a sweet thought.

Mary will be dearly missed by her two sons, Scott (Lisa) Wolfe of Savanna and Tim (Heather) Wolfe of Chicago; a daughter-in-law, Joy Wolfe; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; several cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents and adopted parents; a husband, Don Wolfe; one son, James Wolfe; and her siblings.