June 15, 2019

The Foothills lost one of its brightest smiles near midnight on Saturday, June 15 as Mary Louise Chase went to her eternal home at the age of 92. 

Known affectionately as “Mary Lou” by her many friends, there wasn’t a restaurant, grocery store, shopping mall or church in the Crescenta Valley she could walk into without people calling out her name, wanting to stop and chat. Her smile was only outshined by her famously red hair color.

A native daughter of Glendale and alumna of Hoover High School, Mary and her husband Bill lived in La Crescenta for over 60 years. As accomplished A2-level square dancers, the couple towed their fifth wheel RV to many states across the country to attend challenging, by-invitation-only dances. They also enjoyed the challenge and fellowship of monthly card games with their bridge group.

As her children grew in independence, Mary began work as a sought-after executive secretary for the Glendale board of education. Retiring in 1993 after an exemplary 26-year career, she began a remarkably long run as volunteer at Verdugo Hills Hospital, serving nearly 5,000 hours to the hospital before finally hanging up her blue VHH smock.   

Upon losing her husband of 57 years to cancer in 2003, Mary continued to live and thrive in the family house where she raised four children and cared for many of her grandchildren just a baseball’s throw from Two Strike Park. When not working, volunteering, dancing or loving up grandkids, Mary was active in various local senior groups and sang in the choir at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena.

Her passion for travel was legendary and included adventures to Greece, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Argentina, Chile, Panama and countless other exotic destinations. Of all her travels, however, her two favorite places to be were on a sunny Hawaiian beach or at the family’s mountain home in Mammoth Lakes.

Mary is survived by her son Steve Chase of Post Falls, Idaho; son Jim Chase of Hamilton, Montana; daughter Donna Ruf Armstrong of La Crescenta; nine grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Mary and Bill’s son, Robert Chase, passed away unexpectedly in 2014.

At Mary’s request, there will be no public memorial service. The family plans to commit her ashes to the Hawaiian ocean breezes sometime in the fall.