Mary Helen Meiselwitz Buck born June 30, 1928 to Henry Carl Meiselwitz and Minnie Emma (Voelker) Meiselwitz in Kiel Wisconsin. During her 87 year life Mary was involved with many causes to help improve the world and the people in it. Mary considered herself fortunate to have met wonderful people during her life. She was always surrounded by a loving circle of friends, neighbors, and co-workers. She was a great mentor in loving justice, doing kindness and walking humbly with our God. Mary lived in Kiel until graduating high school in 1946. She then attended MacMurray College transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to complete her degree in physical medicine in 1950. She was a registered physical therapist practicing in Fond du Lac Wisconsin from 1950-1952. She then moved to Phoenix continuing to work as a physical therapist from 1952-1954. It was at this time that Mary met James J. Buck and they were married on April 14th 1954. She then came to California continuing to work off and on as she raised a family. She and Jim have two sons David and Randy as well a daughter, Laura. Mary joined the visiting nurse service in 1972 and worked there until her retirement in 1987. Mary stated "I have never regretted choosing physical therapy as a career. It was always exciting and stimulating and gave me much satisfaction. I can't think of anything I would have rather done." Mary was one of the founding members of the Long Beach Stroke Support Association in 1984, serving as its director from 1985-1995, coordinating the groups from 1995-2008, all the while serving as a group facilitator right up until her passing. She was recognized for her work in medicine by being named to the 2002 Who's Who in Medicine and Health Care. In 1962 Mary and Jim became members of Lakewood first Presbyterian Church which would become Grace First Presbyterian Church in 2003. It is as a member of the church she found some of her greatest joys. She immersed herself in all aspects of church life. She was a member of the Cruisers and Icebreakers fellowship groups. She was active as an Elder, Deacon, and on local church and Presbytery committees. She involved herself in the resettlement of refugees sponsored by the church. Recently some of her activities included: helping in planning and coordinating the Adult Ed classes between services, helping as a part of Christian Outreach in Action missions, maintaining a leadership role with the Peace & Justice Committee, working with Bread for the World on Grace First's annual "the offering of letters" to move legislators to action and selling fair trade items between services to improve the lives of people. Grace First Presbyterian recognized this life-long commitment to Christian service by honoring her with the 2011 Kimi Sugiyama award. Mary was proceeded in death by her brother Chuck and wife Ann. She is survived by her sister Kay and husband Mark, son David and his wife Sandra, son Randy, and ex-wife Cathy, and daughter Laura, grandchildren Megan, Amanda, Dylan, Reed, Trevor, Lindsey, and Paige and by her great grandson Mason. A memorial service will be held on October 24th at 7pm at Grace First Presbyterian Church located at 3955 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach. In Lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Long Beach Stroke Support Association P.O. Box 8340 Long Beach, CA 90808 Or Grace First Presbyterian Church 3955 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach, CA 90808
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