On the morning of May 19, 2022 Mary passed away peacefully of natural causes. Mary was being visited and comforted by family at a skilled nursing facility in Boise, Idaho. Mary was 92 years old.
Mary was born in Twin Falls, Idaho on March 20, 1930. She was the second child born to Virginia Margaret Benz Wohllaib and Wesley Jacob Wohllaib.
Mary grew up on a farm in Twin Falls, Idaho and she and her siblings attended country schools until junior high school when they had to go to the big town school. The first house she lived in had no electricity and an outhouse, but she loved playing on the farm with her siblings and attending country events with neighbors. When Mary was about 10, her guardian angel was worked overtime – she and her siblings were playing in the canal near their home during one of the periodic times the water was shut off. They decided to get out and go home to lunch and they had just gotten up the bank when a wall of water came down – it was close! That same year she fell into a cistern and dangled from her fingertips until she was rescued.
Mary graduated from Twin Falls High School and then attended the Pentecostal Bible Institute in Tupelo, Mississippi. There she met her future husband, David William Breshears, from Parma, Idaho. They were married in June, 1950.
The young couple lived in Boise, Idaho for a few months, then irrigated for a farmer in Murtaugh, Idaho the summer of 1951 and their first child, Carmena, was born. They moved to Twin Falls where their two sons, Brian and Tim were born. Then they moved to Parma for a year before moving back to Boise where their last two children were born, Mary Jane and Amy. In 1971 they moved to Meridian, Idaho where Mary worked in the cafeteria at the elementary school. When they retired in 1991, Mary and David bought a home in town where they enjoyed visits with their children, grandchildren and eventually, great grandchildren.
In 2011, Mary had open heart surgery to repair her heart valves and she suffered a stroke. While in a nursing rehabilitation center to recover before she could go home, she fractured her back. She recovered from her stroke very well, but her back troubled her much longer.
In 2015, after years of taking care of her husband. who had Parkinson’s, she had to have her gallbladder removed. At the same time her husband’s health had dramatically deteriorated so he was moved to a nursing home, which was supposed to be temporary, while she recovered. Unfortunately, her recovery lasted over a year and her husband’s health got worse and worse so he couldn’t come back home. He passed away four months later in the nursing home while she wasn’t able to be there for him like she very much wanted to be.
In her later years, Mary spent a lot of time reading and doing lots of jigsaw puzzles. Hand and Foot became her favorite card game to play with family and friends.
Mary always took good care of her family – loving and kind. She will be missed.
Mary was predeceased by her husband, David, her parents – Wesley and Virginia Wohllaib; her brothers – Bob and Ken; her daughter, Carmena and by grandson, Chauncey.
Mary is survived by her children – Brian (Alesea) Boise, Timothy (Tina) Kuna, Mary Jane Harper (Meridian), Amy Baugh (Bill) Boise and honorary daughter, Darlene Breshears Hickenlooper (Gary) Hammett; grandchildren – Joshua, Charlie, Max, Seth, Rachel, Ashley, Alan, Michael, William; great-grandchildren – Alexander, Anthony, AnnMarie, Harmony, Tyzon, Calan, Aurelia, Damien; and by her sister, Sharon Smith.