Mary Cramer, 91, of Wellington, KS, died peacefully on January 5, 2025 at Botkin Care and Rehab Center in Wellington.
Mary was born the third child of Tom and Lorraine (Sharpsteen) Woods on January 3, 1934 in Wellington, where her parents ran a neighborhood grocery store in the front of their house on East Lincoln. Mary lived a life of joy and laughter. She was proud to say that she had earned the title of “silly grandma” and was known by all her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren as “Grandma Mary”. There wasn’t the sound of a washing machine running she wouldn’t dance to, or a cardboard tube she wouldn’t toot-ta-too into. When all the Christmas presents had been opened, she was probably wearing all the bows and ribbons on her head. Mary loved all her children. She spent countless hours volunteering at local day care and pre-schools on her days off work simply because of her love of children, no matter who they belonged to. She was happy to spend hours sitting in a rocking chair rocking someone else’s baby to sleep. She gave the same loving attention to her own children and made sure Christmases and birthdays were always something She loved the snow and may have liked to play in the snow as much as the kids. Her big wish was that it would snow every year on her birthday, January 3rd. Mary and Dale Cramer were married on August 12, 1952 and were married for 25 years before his passing in 1977. While her kids were growing up, she was a stay-at-home Mom and housewife, keeping busy in their school activities and as president of the PTA. When the school district began providing school lunch, she ventured out of the house and went to work for Montgomery Ward in Wellington as a sales clerk until the store closed in 1979. Afterward she worked as a billing clerk at Sumner-Cowley Electric Co-Op until her retirement in 2002. Her retirement was spent doting on her grand and great-grandkids and traveling on mystery bus trips with her sisters. A grandkid sleep-over at Grandma Mary’s might have included a tent set up on the living room floor or in the front yard. Mary is survived by her children, Randy and wife Linda of Joplin, MO; Russ of Thousand Oaks, CA; and Debby of Wellington; grandchildren Steve, Tim, Laurel, Crissy, and Bailey; 11 great-grandchildren, 3 great-great-grandchildren, and sisters Jean Mauldin and Norma Briley. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Dale, and brother Tom. A memorial celebrating her loving life and the joy she brought to the world will be
