Mary Ruth Mehl

“They can take the cigarette from me when they pry it from my dead fingers!” That was an actual quote from our Mom just a few years ago on the 10,000th time I urged her to quit smoking. And it says EVERYTHING about who she was until the end of her beautiful life. We used to nag her on a daily basis about quitting smoking, especially after she had multiple heart attacks and her docs told her one more heart incident would be her last. But docs be damned; she did things how SHE wanted to do them, not based on how anyone else in this world told her to. Our whole life growing up, we’d listen to stories from Grandmom Doris and all of Mom’s brothers about Mom as a headstrong, determined, and stubborn teen. Sneaking out of the house, skipping school, and general crazy teen behavior were her trademarks. But that’s all part of what made her so special. She lived life the way she wanted to, not how anyone else told her to or what societal standards dictated. And God bless her for it! Mary Ruth Mehl, also affectionately known as Foof, Lil M, Birdie III, and that Crazy Lady, passed from this world and joined her loving husband, Thomas A. Mehl Sr., in heaven, on February 10, 2022. She was the neighborhood Mom, watching out for and feeding bomb PB&J’s to the neighborhood kids, while she managed multiple titles such as the Avon Lady, the Seamstress, as well as being a part of the St. John’s Welcome Wagon, and many more. Over the years, you could find her sewing, doing multiple cross stitch patterns, working on a quilt for months on end, or reading a good book at the kitchen table with a smoke in her hand (or her head in the book). After her 3 children moved on to live lives of their own, she and her husband Tom moved to Michigan to be Grandparents and she eventually retired. Several years after her husband had passed away, she came to live with her Daughter and her family, where she lived happily, picking up her cross-stitch, eating her “Chips” and being loved on by her best friend and wiener dog, among many others. To know Mom is to love Mom. Incredibly outspoken and without filter, she loved, she teased and she laughed. She grew up in a big family with her four loving brothers and raised three children with never-ending love and support. She is survived by her children, Thomas (Heather) Mehl, Kathleen (Christopher) Rowe and Michael (Jacquelyn) Mehl. Loving grandmother of Ethan Mehl, Zachary Mehl, Kaitlyn Mehl, Nathan Rowe, Jaylyn Boyd and Tyler Mehl. Adored sister to her 4 brothers John (Peggy) Chlada, Robert (Shelly) Chlada, Mark (Carmen) Chlada and late James (Mickey) Chlada and many other extended family members and friends. Please join us in paying our respects to this wonderful woman, who touched so many lives.

Mary Ruth Mehl

September 30, 1951 - February 10, 2022