Mary Ann Dreiling

Mary Ann was born on July 26, 1949, in Hoxie, Kansas, and passed away on August 14, 2025, in Hayward, California. She was 76 years old. She was the second daughter of Hazel Faye Holomon Dreiling and Norbert Francis Dreiling. She attended grade school and high school in Hoxie, graduating in 1967. She continued her education at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. She had two uncles, Fr. Marcellus Dreiling and Fr. Boniface Dreiling, who were professors at the college, which was also her father's alma mater. Mary was very familiar with St. Joe, having visited often in her early years, and with many family members having studied there before her-thirteen in total-she was encouraged to attend as well. Since St. Joe had recently become coed, it is generally believed that Mary Ann's final decision to go was more influenced by the ratio of boys to girls than by any family history, even knowing she would always be under the watchful eyes of her two uncle-priest professors on campus. St. Joe is where Mary Ann earned the nickname "Hoxie." The nickname stayed with her for the rest of her life, even appearing in the phone book in California. While at college, she made lifelong friends, many of whom she saw in the last month of her life. She studied chemistry but eventually changed her major to English and graduated in 1971.

Her first job out of college was teaching first grade at a catholic school in Jerseyville, Missouri. She was always a little worried about how her kids would turn out, and accordingly, she quickly exited the teaching field, moving to Houston, TX, where she lived for a period of time with her favorite cousin, Helen Taylor Tomb. In Houston, Mary Ann worked for a proctologist, handling office tasks. In Mary Ann's words, the Houston doctor who was actually a colon and rectal surgeon was fondly referred to as a "super duper pooper snooper". After Houston Hoxie hooked a trailer to her Pinto (dad was a Ford Dealer) and drove to California to the "promised land".

Upon arrival in California, Mary Ann lived in several apartments before moving to a house on Elm Street, which was almost a commune of friends. At least 7 different nearby residences in the neighborhood were occupied by good friends. She first worked as a medical transcriber at Merritt Hospital in Oakland, CA. After being offered an opportunity to study computer programming, she began to work for Fireman's Fund. Eventually, she moved on to Pacific Bell (AT&T). When Y2K arrived, she worked for a year at VISA, bringing their programs up to date so they wouldn't crash when the year 2000 came. After completing that position, she returned to AT & T where she worked until her retirement in 2011. After retirement, Mary Ann traveled with friends and family to many countries and continued to enjoy reading, which was her favorite pastime.

Mary Ann was predeceased by her parents, Norb and Hazel, her oldest sister, Margaret, her pup Brrgrr and many other special friends and family. She is survived by her special friend, Bill Borawski, her sisters, Marcella Cameron (Jay) and Mildred Young (Jennifer Newhouse), many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and a score of wonderful cousins and friends. She loved the videos and pictures of all her family and friends, as well as the stories about what they were up to. Her family of friends (to name a few) came from California as well as throughout the country, including those from St. Joe (Michael C, Tom K., Jim O., Kathy E.), those from work (Doug W. (and Jeff P.), Bob P., Michael R., Chris O., Robert V., Gail S.) and those new friends (Karen C., Tom O., Bradley E.).

Mary Ann was cremated, and a memorial service will occur at a later date. A list of family and friends is being developed, and invitations will be sent out once plans have been finalized. We hope to donate Mary Ann's extensive library, possibly to her Assisted Living Facility. If successful, we would request that any memorial donations be sent to the library recipient. As this has not yet occurred, people may send donations to any charity of their choice.