Mary Oehlke

Mary Gooding Oehlke, longtime resident of Pipe Creek, Tx passed away peacefully on May 31, 2022.  She was born in 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland to Phillip North Gooding and Jessie Virginia Gooding (Willis).  An avid horse woman, she spent much of her youth watching the thoroughbred horses training at nearby Pimlico racetrack.  One of her fondest memories was of the jockeys calling out greetings to her as they rode by.

Mary left Maryland to attend Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Tx., where she met and married Charles H. Sorrell.  She loved reading, and her career included work as a middle school English teacher, librarian and proofreader.  Fiercely independent and imminently practical, Mary was the rock of the family and a source of inspiration to her children.  Even blindness in later life didn’t slow her down.

Mary married the love of her life, Fred William Oehlke in 1986 and they settled in Pipe Creek, Tx.  Fred and Mary enjoyed traveling, dancing and just sitting out on the porch together.

Mary is survived by her 4 children, Fredrick Paul Sorrell (San Antonio, Tx), Dwight Henry Sorrell (Hanahan, SC), Linda Ann Russi (Schertz, Tx) and Karen Lee Jolly (Austin, Tx), 6 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.  She is also survived by her dear friend and cousin Lorraine Loud Wizda (Baltimore, Md), cousins Sharyn Wizda Vane and her family (Austin, Tx) and Sally Willis Rogers (Cathedral City, CA), and great-nieces Cyndie West and Valerie Elder and her family (all of Westminster, Md).

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Hill Country Horse Rescue, P.O. Box 64032, Pipe Creek, Tx.