Mary Terese Dolan
December 4, 1933 — September 14, 2017
Mary Terese Dolan
September 14, 2017 Mary Terese Dolan, passed away peacefully on September 14, 2017 with family by her side. Mary Terese was born December 4, 1933 in Columbus, Nebraska to Hugo W.K. Oehlrich and Dorothy Roberts Oehlrich. She was the oldest of two sisters. The Oehlrich family left Nebraska in 1942 and moved to beautiful Colorado Springs where they lived for two years. It was here that Mary Terese began her lifelong love of the mountains, and also took up ice skating. One of her favorite memories was of skating at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. The family moved to Sacramento in 1944 to a house on H Street, and Mary Terese and her sister, Mimi, were enrolled in school at St. Francis. Mary Terese's love of many things started in Sacramento; Lake Tahoe and music, to name two. One of the first things the family did upon coming to town was to take a drive to Lake Tahoe. They fell in love with it. On one visit, they were all in the lake and noticed commotion on the beach World War II had ended. On another visit they encountered Clark Gable and Rita Hayworth on the beach. This was a thrill Mary Terese loved the movies a love that was fostered from the cradle. Her grandfather had worked for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, and as an infant, she and her parents once visited the famous Pickfair estate in Beverly Hills. Many years later, after Mary Terese and Mimi had children, an annual vacation together in South Lake Tahoe became one of the highlights of the year. She last visited there in 2016. Mary Terese played the piano and sang beautifully. She also played the pipe organ at St. Francis Church. She rose very early to arrive at school by 7:00 am to practice either instrument before classes began. Eventually she played the organ for High Masses. She was a very talented pianist, and at the point that she had to decide on a college major, music almost won out. While that didn't happen, the influence on her children of her love of music was deep. The Sacramento Symphony, Tiny Tots Concerts, The Music Circus, The Sacramento Ballet, The San Francisco Opera these were all regular stops throughout their childhood and youth. Following her graduation from St. Francis High School, Mary Terese attended Sacramento Junior College, and then Sacramento State College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in language arts. And, she was a star! While at Sac State Mary Terese played the title character in the play "The Trial of Mary Dugan," that was performed at the Sacramento Court House. Mary Terese took her first post-college job as a reporter at The Sacramento Bee, where she met her future husband, Edward Dolan. Ed and Mary Terese loved going to Carmel with their friends and were married there in 1957 at Mission San Carlos. Soon, the children came. They had five daughters over the next eight years. Her daughters were the center of Mary Terese's life to the end. In 1990 Mary Terese decided to return to full-time work and she became an Administrative Assistant in the Language and Literature division at Sacramento City College. Yes, she was working. But, she was also having fun. Lots of it. In this new phase of her life she met and became friends with so many wonderful people in the division. When it came time to retire in 2007, she was ready to leave the job, but not the people. Starting in the 1990s travel became central to Mary Terese's life. It didn't take long for that first trip to New York City to seem like a drive to San Francisco, once she had visited Africa and returned there three times. Subsequently, she covered all seven continents, with Antarctica being the last. Mary Terese is survived by her five daughters, Mary, Cynthia, Stephanie, Denise, and Leslie; sons-in-law, David Broussal, Bill Bannister, and Matt Silveira; sister and brother-in-law Mimi and Arthur Winslow; niece Mimi Dene Williams and nephews John Zanze and Walter Zanze. This group was Mary Terese's local support team. She is also survived by loving family in Montana and Oregon. Her husband, Ed, preceded her in death in 2000. Her daughters would like to extend a very special thank you to the staff at Mercy McMahon Terrace for all the love and care their mother received there during the past three years. And, to Maria Montoya, thank you cannot begin to express how grateful we are for having you in our lives.
A memorial service and Mass will be held at 12:30 p.m., Friday, October 13, 2017, at Sacred Heart Church, 1040 39th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816. Following the service there will be a party at the home of Bill and Denise Bannister.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations may be made to the Mary Terese Dolan Memorial Scholarship. Checks need to be made out to the SCC Foundation with Mary Terese Dolan written on the memo line, and mailed to SCC, Foundation Office, 3835 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95822.
A memorial service and Mass will be held at 12:30 p.m., Friday, October 13, 2017, at Sacred Heart Church, 1040 39th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816. Following the service there will be a party at the home of Bill and Denise Bannister.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations may be made to the Mary Terese Dolan Memorial Scholarship. Checks need to be made out to the SCC Foundation with Mary Terese Dolan written on the memo line, and mailed to SCC, Foundation Office, 3835 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95822.
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