Mary Ann Kaestner

Mary Ann Kaestner was born to Stanley and Stephanie Rackowski in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she met and married her high school sweetheart, Noel Kaestner in 1951. Together they relocated to Salem, Oregon in 1954 when Noel accepted a professorship in psychology at Willamette University. Mary Ann and Noel had three sons, 5 granddaughters and a grandson. Mary Ann described her life as “joyful almost always.”

Mary Ann graduated from Wisconsin State Teachers’ College with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1951 and later received her Master’s in guidance and counseling at Oregon State University in 1969. In addition to raising three sons, she worked as a guidance counselor in Salem, for 20 years.

Mary Ann and Noel had a love for each other rarely seen. Mary Ann would say her heart skipped a beat when she would hear the front door open as Noel returned from work. As empty nesters, Mary Ann and Noel frequently traveled the desert southwest and as far abroad as the pyramids of Egypt.

After Noel’s untimely death in 1986, Mary Ann continued to work until retiring in 1990. Thereafter she became a world traveler and visited 18 different countries. She visited Africa and rode the Orient Express from Moscow to Beijing. She enjoyed her frequent elderhostel trips with her friends from Salem and Willamette University where she established a psychology award in Noel’s name.

Mary Ann was an active supporter of causes she believed in. She served on the board of the Salem Women’s Crisis Center and the Charla Richards-Kreitzberg Foundation. After a move to Palm Springs in 2000, she became an active member of the American Association of University Women and served on boards for the local Unitarian Church and the Western Arts Council of the Palm Springs Museum. She volunteered at the Desert Regional Memorial Hospital.

In 2016, Mary Ann moved to Santa Barbara, California to be closer to her eldest son, his wife and their daughters. There she was a resident of Wood Glenn Hall where she served as president of the resident’s council and sat on the board of the Live Oak Unitarian Church. During her years in Santa Barbara she became a member of the Genealogy Society where she delighted in discovering her family history. Mary Ann also swam regularly at the Braille Institute as part of her lifelong devotion to personal fitness.

Mary Ann’s last two years were spent in Seal Beach, California near her youngest son. There she continued her love of reading, time with family and friends as well as outings to musicals at the nearby Carpenter Center. Mary Ann will be remembered for her unquenchable thirst for art, knowledge, meeting new people and living a happy life. Until the very end, Mary Ann greeted everyone with her beautiful smile. She brought light, warmth and happiness to those lucky enough to have known her.