Mary P. Topper

Mary Patricia Topper, nee Butler, 64, passed away on February 6, 2015 at Charlier Hospice Center in Evansville after a long fight with renal cancer. Born in Rochester, NY, her family soon moved to St. Louis across from Sportsman’s Park. There, through her extended family, she fell in love with the Muny Opera and Cardinal’s baseball. Later she and her family, including parents Charles (Donald) and Mary Sue (Curry) Butler, brothers Jack, Brian, Dennis, and sister Peggy lived near Chicago, where Mary attended high school and later received a nursing degree from Wm. Rainey Harper College in 1974. She loved traveling as well as education and took classes at the University of Illinois/Champaign, University of Denver, and University of Minnesota. In 1977 she married Thomas E. Topper, a physician, and she and her family lived in Crawfordsville, IN and, after a brief detour in Madisonville, KY, they settled in Evansville in 1990; the couple divorced in 2005. Together they raised their three children Ellen Claire Topper (m. Cody Matsel) of Evansville, Thomas H. Topper (m. Mandy Eskridge) of St. Louis, and Stephen M. Topper (m. Viktoria Davaeva) of Austin. Mary’s three grandchildren include Thomas Matthew Topper, his sister Margot Opal, and Leo Ward Matsel. Mary was a wonderful mother, always there for her children who were also her close friends, never closer than during her struggles in the last few years. She also had a wonderful, ironic, and sometimes biting sense of humor with which she appraised life and other people. Her children always took great comfort in her distinctive laugh. She was at the same time generous and self-deprecating, always loyal and loving to her friends. Sometimes an imposing figure, she was widely and intelligently read, loved ideas, was outspoken in her convictions, had high standards of herself, her family and others. Mary continued her love of education into adulthood, playing an active role in supporting local universities, particularly through her efforts with the Society for Arts and Humanities at USI, support of the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and of New Harmony Theatre. She wrote great letters, loved monkey prints, giving hugs, and the music of Simon and Garfunkel. Busy as a mother and as a nurse, she also continued her education, completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UE in 1990 and compiling coursework for a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies from USI. As a nurse Mary was known for her professionalism, competence, thoughtfulness, and caring. The many patients with whom she worked through the Visiting Nurse Association and through hospice will remember her with gratitude and thankfulness. Her faults made her human; her love made her our mother. We love you, Momma. A private celebration of Mary’s life will take place on March 21, 2015. Memorial gifts can be made to the USI Society for Arts and Humanities, the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, or the Visiting Nurses Association.

Mary P. Topper

August 25, 1950 - February 6, 2015