Mary Wehrle, born Mary Louise Nelson, died on March 16, 2026 in Brooklyn, Connecticut, aged 95. She was born August 15, 1930, in Queens, New York, the only child to James F. Nelson and Louise (O’Malley) Nelson. Mary’s father was Eastern Zone manager for the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors. Growing up, she moved from Queens to Buffalo, NY, before her parents settled in South Bend, Indiana, where her father owned a Pontiac dealership. Mary attended St. Mary’s College in Indiana. Later she lived in San Francisco, Paris, and Chicago, beginning her life-long love of travel. At the University of Chicago, she worked in the Physics Department with many of the specialists employed on the Manhattan Project. It was in Chicago that Mary met and married Edmund S. Wehrle. Together they moved to Lansing, Michigan, where their first child Margaret was born, and then to Cleveland, Ohio, where their second child Edmund was born. They settled in Storrs, Connecticut, where their third child Matthew was born. Mary’s husband of 59 years taught in the History Department at the University of Connecticut. Mary received a second bachelor’s degree at Annhurst College and taught in the Language Lab at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs. She continued to travel, spending another year in Paris, as well as time in China and Nova Scotia. Mary was very active in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Storrs, working for many years with their Haitian support group and traveling several times to Haiti. She loved to read and enjoyed participating in book clubs. She followed the news closely, as well as the adventures of her five grandchildren.

Mary was loved by her family and is survived by her daughter Margaret Kelly Murphy (Chris), three grandsons: Gearód, Declan and Liam; her son Edmund Francis Wehrle (Jacqueline), and granddaughters Annabel and Josephina; and her son Matthew James Wehrle. Mary was predeceased by her husband Edmund Wehrle. Burial and funeral information forthcoming. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Friends of Ecole Agape at https://www.friendsofecoleagape.org/?page_id=136