Mary Ruth Woerner

Mary Ruth Woerner, 94, of Lenexa, Kansas, died on Thursday, June 1, 2023. Mary Ruth was born on July 16, 1928, in Concordia, the daughter of William and Dr. Ruth Patrick Spiegel. She grew up in Jewell County.

Mary Ruth was an accomplished pianist and taught lessons in her home for more than 50 years. After graduating from Formoso High School in 1944, she went to Boston to study piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, and then returned to Kansas to finish her degree at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music (UMKC). She graduated from here in 1951. It was at this time she met and married Donald Woerner.

Through their life together, Mary and Don had three daughters: Elizabeth, Kathy and Nancy, and lived in Topeka, and Springfield, Illinois. The family returned to Kansas City in 1972, where they bought their home in Lenexa, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Mary and Don became members of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in 1972. Mary served many years on the Altar Guild, 25 of those as Sacristan. She was a member of P.E.O.

Chapter FN, Mission, Kansas.

Mary was preceded in death by Donald and Elizabeth. Also preceding her were her parents, sister, Ann and brothers, Bobby and Ralph Spiegel. She is survived by her sister, Joyce (Spiegel) Cashman; daughters and sons-in-law, Kathy and Mark Jackson and Nancy Lee and Clint Pearcy; grandchildren, Shawn Jackson and Cameron Jackson and his wife, Megan Jackson; and two great-grandchildren, Hannah and Logan.

Both Mary and Don, for their end of life care, chose to donate their bodies to science. This was both from a desire to give as much as possible to this life and in honor of Mary's mother, Ruth, who was one of the first female physicians who graduated from University of Kansas School of Medicine. They chose the same institution to receive this gift.