1938-2026
On August 10th, 2026, Mariana (Mari) Waite Wallrabenstein joined her husband, Tom, resting in the loving arms of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Memorial services will be held at 10 AM Saturday, August 22, 2026, at Grace United Methodist Church. Gifts in memory of her may be given to the following: Legacy Foundation for Winfield Habitat for Humanity, or Legacy Foundation for P.E.O. Gertrude Hankins Scholarship, and left in the care of the Shelley Family Funeral Home.
Life began for Mari on December 11, 1938 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She was welcomed by her parents, R. Byron Waite and Helen (Peine) Waite, and a big sister, Aletha. Educated in public schools in several communities she graduated from high school in Eugene, Oregon. She started college at Mills College in Oakland, California, but after one year transferred to Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. It was a natural choice, as her parents were alumni of the college and her father was serving on the Board of Trustees. While a student, she met her future husband. Following Mari’s graduation, they were married in the fall on September 4, 1960. For their honeymoon, they traveled back to Claremont, California, where Tom was in seminary. In midlife she would return to college to obtain her Master of Library Science in 1978
Following Tom’s completion of his graduate degree work life began with what Mari often referred to as her “gypsy life in the Methodist Church”. She moved around as a child so getting acquainted with new communities and churches was nothing new and something she made into a game for their son , Russell, who was born in 1965. This life journey included, two stops in Winfield, where Tom took special appointment to serve in the Development Office of Southwestern College. It also included starting a brand new church in Brea, California, 4 years in Hawaii, years in Flagstaff, Arizona and several appointments in Kansas concluding with the building of a new sanctuary for the Monticello Church. Mari was committed to making their home a sanctuary for Tom but they also worked as a team, with her often doing art projects to help share a gospel message such as 4x6 feet felt banners at the Sedan church and banners for vacation bible school in Oswego. Not a trained teacher she taught Sunday School for 46 years, developing her own curriculum for teaching the Bible+ to 3rd graders. Christmas was a special time for Mari which is why she ended up collecting over 50 nativities from around the world. She and Tom would do the Christmas Eve service together with them usually using one of Mari’s’ larger nativity sets.
She enjoyed working and serving in the church. It was not always a bed of roses but by and large it was a good and interesting life. She and Tom meet and worked with many wonderful people who loved the church and loved to serve in the work of the gospel. They loved to travel and visited many countries. Beside the time serving the church, Mari has been very active in P.E.O. and will be a “Golden Girl” a 50-year member in 2029. After moving back to Winfield in 1990, she became a part-employee at the Winfield Public Library. Retiring in the late 1990s, she was involved in caring for her mother. During this time she became a volunteer with the Winfield Food Pantry and the Commodities Program. Along with her husband, she was involved in the founding of the Winfield Habitat for Humanity affiliate and she is still working actively in the affiliate to this day. Mari became the church librarian at the First Methodist Church in 1996 and continued in that position for 28 years. Following her husband Tom’s death in December 2020, she has continued be very active as physically possible, even to travel each summer to see friends in Utah at the Shakespeare Festival and family in California and enjoying the Colorado mountain air.
Mari would say it was a good life. She was thankful on a daily basis for the friends, neighbors, family, and PEO sisters in her life. She is survived by her son Russell (Trish), 3 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren.
