Mary Jane Luby Showalter

1934 - 2017

Mary Jane Luby Showalter

Miamisburg, - 83, passed away peacefully December 11, 2017, at the River Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Miamisburg, Ohio. Mary Jane was born September 21, 1934 in Zanesville, Ohio to the late Paul J. and Florence (Bennett) Luby. After graduating from Rosecrans High School in Zanesville and attending the University of Dayton for a year, she worked for a time before meeting her future husband. Mary Jane married Kenneth E. Showalter at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Zanesville on September 3, 1955, and they were married for over 47 years. Ken predeceased her on November 8, 2002.

Mary Jane enjoyed meeting new people in the many places she lived over the years, including Caldwell, Parma, Cincinnati, Portsmouth, and Solon in Ohio, Anchorage, Alaska, Houston, Texas, and Danville, California. She had a passion for sewing and knitting, having made many wedding dresses, bridesmaid and flower girl dresses, costumes, afghans, quilts, and much more. Mary Jane also had a lifelong interest in history, taking family vacations to numerous historic sites including Colonial Williamsburg, and belonging to local historical societies including The Pioneer and Historical Society of Muskingum County (Zanesville) and the Washington County Historical Society (Marietta, Ohio).

She restarted her college career while living in Solon, took many classes while living in Anchorage, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Business from St. Mary's College of California in 1983.

Mary Jane is survived by her children William Showalter and his wife Linda of Marietta, Ohio; Jane Thomas and her husband Tim of Anchorage, Alaska; Elizabeth Marquart of Miamisburg, Ohio; and Patricia Grenier and her husband Tom of Anchorage; as well as six grandchildren, Nick Marquart, Claire Showalter, Maggie Marquart Dobson, Phillip Showalter, Zoey Grenier, and Vivi Grenier, and two great-grandchildren, Rachel Marquart and Cole Dobson. She is also survived by her older brother Patrick Luby and his wife Peggy of Madison, Wisconsin, her sister Florence Ann Schmall of Temperance, Michigan, and her younger brother Joseph Luby of the family farm in Zanesville.

A celebration of Mary's life will be held sometime in the spring.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association (www.alz.org) or to Ohio's Hospice of Dayton (www.hospiceofdayton.org/donations) or your local hospice organization.