Mary Louise O'Donnell, 63, of Cripple Creek, Colorado formerly of Lake Villa, IL has passed away on Monday, December 27, 2010. She was born on June 26, 1947 in Chicago to Chester P. and Bernice C. (nee Potoniec) Savage.

A 1965 graduate of Grant Community High School in Ingleside, she earned her BA in Elementary Education from Blackburn University in Carlinville, IL in 1969 and furthered her education earning a Masters Degree in Education from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado in 1976. Her teaching excellence was recognized in 1980 when she won the Presidential Award bestowed on the Top 100 Teachers in the United States and again in October 2000 in an article entitled "Children See Cresson Teacher Mary O'Donnell as a Constant Star" published in the Gold Rush newspaper. To honor her many years of service in the Cripple Creek/Victor school system she performed the ribbon cutting for the 1982 grand opening of the new Cresson Elementary School. She retired in May 2010 after 34 years of teaching special education and kindergarten.
Mary was a long-time member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Cripple Creek serving as the church's Bishops Warden and on the Altar Guild and Vestry.
An avid "rock hunter" for mineral specimens, she attended classes at the Colorado School of Mines and was a contributor to the Lake George Mineralogy Museum as well as a member and/or officer of both the Lake George and the Colorado Springs Mineralogy Clubs. She took her interest to a higher level by training and becoming a gem facetter and creating beautiful gem settings.
Mary was a long-time participant in the Aspen Mine Center's Food Bank and other community service projects through St. Andrew's.

She will be deeply missed by her siblings, Sharon Savage, Jean (Ronald) Kwak, Thomas Savage, Diana (Randy) Hillier and Michael Savage, her niece and nephews Peter (Kim), Heather, Daniel (Agnes) and David and by sister-in-law, Rose Moss and nieces, Christine and Kimberly, and sister-in-law, Mary Pat (Richard) Vose.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

Memorial visitation will be Friday, December 31, 2010 from 1 PM until 5 PM at K.K. Hamsher Funeral Home, 12 N. Pistakee Lake Road, Fox Lake. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to St. Andrew Church, 367 E. Carr St., Cripple Creek, CO 80813

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