In Memoriam: Mary Wainwright Liebtag

From Hoyt Funeral Home.

Mary Wainwright Liebtag, 93, passed away Oct. 27 at her home in the Meadow Ridge community of Redding, Connecticut with her loving family by her side.

Mrs. Liebtag was born February 13, 1922 in Stamford, CT to the late Thomas W. and Helen M. (Buffum) Ashwell of New Canaan, Connecticut.

Mary attended New Canaan Country School, and The Low-Heywood school in Stamford, CT; she graduated from Vassar College in 1943. Mary worked for the Ethyl Corporation in Michigan as a chemist during WW2, where she met and married Edward Jalmer Johnson.

She was widowed in 1960, and returned to New Canaan to care for her ailing mother. She received her MSEd - specializing in children’s literacy - from the University of Bridgeport; worked in local schools; in the late ‘60s she became a children’s librarian at New Canaan until she retired more than 20 years later.

She married Wesley Liebtag in 1992. They moved to Meadow Ridge a few years later.

To the last week of her life Mary was active in the Meadow Ridge Knitting Club which she founded, making caps and blankets for newborns at Norwalk Hospital. She has been a lifelong member of St. Mark’s Church in New Canaan and was especially involved in putting on the St. Mark’s May Fair.

Mary is survived in life by Wesley Liebtag, her wonderful husband, her three children and their spouses: Mark (Eleanor), Ann (Stanley), David (Barbara); also by six grandchildren (Edward, Adam, Michael, Andrew, Christopher, and Francis), and one great-grandchild Ezekiel.

A Memorial Service to honor Mary’s life will be held on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015 at 3 at St. Mark’s Church in New Canaan, with a reception at 4:30 at Meadow Ridge.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary’s memory may be sent to Fairfield County Community Foundation (memo: Meadow Ridge Scholarship Fund). Alternatively, donations can be made to the outreach fund of the St. Mark’s May Fair.