Fowlerville News and Views Online

Mary Gertrude Walton Steinhelper

    Mary Gertrude Walton Steinhelper, 85, of Fowlerville, Michigan, passed away on August 17, 2016 at The Laurels of Mt. Pleasant in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. She was born on July 6, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan to George Leo and Gertrude Dieter Walton. Mary grew up in Detroit where she graduated from Immaculata High School in 1948. After high school she attended Marygrove College in Detroit where she earned her B.A. in Mathematics Education in 1952 and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her M.A. in Education from the University of Detroit in 1956, and pursued graduate studies at Eastern Michigan University in the early 1980s. 
     Mary worked for the Detroit Public School System at Southwestern and Redford High Schools as a math teacher. In the early 1970s she accepted a position with Howell High School teaching English and Math, and eventually assuming leadership roles as a Department Chair, and later Vice Principal. She retired from her active professional life in 1986 to enjoy traveling, reading, competitive ballroom dancing, and her family. 
     She devoted much of her life in service to others, raising two boys as a single mother, caring for her parents in their old age, and teaching English as a secondary language as a retiree. Her interests and circumstances led her to reside during retirement in Novi, Michigan, Englewood Florida, San Antonio, Texas, and Venice, Florida. After a bad fall precluded her living independently, she joined her son Michael and his family in Fowlerville. Declining health in the past year required her move to Margaret’s Meadows in Remus, and finally to The Laurels, in Mt. Pleasant. 
     Mary married John “Jack” Edwin Steinhelper, Jr. in 1958 in Southfield, Michigan. Mary was preceded in death by her husband Jack in 1963, her parents George Leo Walton and Gertrude Dieter Walton, and brother Joseph Leo Walton.  
     Mary is survived by her sons: Mark (Layne) Steinhelper of San Antonio, Texas, and Michael (Karen) Steinhelper of Fowlerville, Michigan; her brother: James Walton of Punta Gorda, Florida; her grandsons: Gregory Steinhelper of Williamstown, Massachusetts, John Steinhelper of Jackson, Michigan; and Tyler Steinhelper of Fowlerville, Michigan; her nieces: Kathleen (Brian) Batcheller of Westland, Michigan, Maureen (Matthew) Casselton of Novi, Michigan; and nephew James (Debbie) Walton of Tequesta, Florida. 
     A funeral mass will be held at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 855 East Grand River Ave., Fowlerville, at 10 a.m., Thursday, August 25, 2016, preceded by a viewing at the church beginning at 9 a.m. A visitation will be held at Herrmann Funeral Home, 1005 East Grand River Ave., Fowlerville, from 4 – 8 p.m., Wednesday, August 24. A private burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetary in Southfield will follow at a later date.
     In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to Margaret’s Meadows, 5257 South Coldwater Rd, Remus, MI 49340 or the Alzheimer’s Association. Condolences may be left on the Mary Gertrude Walton Steinhelper’s online guest book at  pjherrmannfuneralhome.com.