Mary Louise Rothe

Mary Louise (Hawk) Rothe was born April 20, 1930.   Mary Lou grew up on a farm six miles south of Hamilton, Ohio which is 20 or so miles north of Cincinnati.  Growing up she attended a Presbyterian church.  She   graduated from Ross High School in 1947.  She won a full scholarship to attend Ohio State University.  While there she met Carl Rothe at the Protestant Fellowship.  Upon graduation Mary Lou moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to work for a church organization. While living in Lincoln Mary Lou was looking for some adventure in life and started the paperwork to apply for a teaching position in South Africa.  Meanwhile, Carl was sending her actual love letters delivered by the actual United States Postal Service.  Mary Lou had most of the paperwork completed when Carl proposed marriage.  Mary Lou accepted.  They were married in 1952 and Mary Lou moved back to Columbus, OH where Carl was in graduate school. Carl’s graduate school stipend was so generous that Mary Lou quit her job enrolled in graduate school herself earning a Master’s degree.  Carl graduated with a PHD in Physiology in 1955.  Upon graduation he enlisted in the Public Health Service, which became the CDC.   Carl and Mary Lou moved to Boston for a six week training course and then to Savannah, Georgia.  While in Georgia Mary Lou lead a Girl Scout Troup at the local Methodist Church.

In 1958 Carl’s enlistment in the Public Health Service was over and he accepted a position at Indiana University School of Medicine.  He passed by offers from SUNY Buffalo and a small college in the Dakotas.  Every time Buffalo got a big snow Mary Lou would comment she was glad they ended up in Indianapolis. Upon arriving in Indianapolis one of the first things she did was join the League of Women Voters where she made many lasting friendships.  She served as president for a year of the Indianapolis chapter in the late 1970s and as treasurer for the state chapter in the early 1980s.  She remained a member of the League for over 50 years.   She also joined First Congregational Church and attended regularly from 1958 to the last few months of her life when her health declined.  She taught for a few years in the early 1960s at Indiana Central College (now University of Indianapolis).

In 1984 she was elected to Indianapolis Public School Board and served to 1988.  Twice she was elected president of the board. Through IPS she was appointed to the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library Board, serving for four terms from 1993 to 2009 also serving as president at various times. She was the resource director at the Indiana Committee for the Humanities throughout the 1980s.  In the early 1990s she was community outreach director for First Meridian Heights Presbyterian Church where she helped found the Vivian Smith House.   The Vivian Smith provided childcare and tutoring to young mothers trying to finish high school.

After the kids left the house Carl and Mary Lou made many overseas trips including West Berlin before the Iron Curtain fell, Japan, China and India twice.   

After living in the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood from 1965 until 2011 Carl and Mary Lou moved to Marquette Manor where Mary Lou had old friends and made new friends.  Carl died in 2016. Mary Lou enjoyed her life, never spoke ill of anyone and tried to make the world a better place.   

  She is survived by daughter Sarah Rothe Whitfield (John), son Thomas Rothe, grandson Jason Lee (Gretchen), grandson Jeff Lee, great grandsons JJ Lee and Gavin Lee.