Obituary of Mary Elizabeth Schlensker

Schlensker, Mary Elizabeth (Bertels) 79, Passed Away November 10, 2020

Loving wife, mother, and friend to all, Liz came to Florida in 1966 with her husband Mike, and worked at Florida Federal Savings & Loan and at Delta Air Lines in Tampa. Liz was a member of Maximo Presbyterian Church for over 50 years and is survived by her husband of 59 years, Mike, her sons Dave and Pete, her daughter-in-law Carol, her son-in-law Jerry Rich, granddaughters Elsa, Addie, and Claire, and brother Dick.

Liz grew up in Closter and Tenafly, New Jersey. She went on to study music at Miami (of Ohio) University where she met her husband Mike and they eventually settled in St. Petersburg in 1966. Liz was a member of Maximo Presbyterian Church for over 50 years and filled various positions in the congregation. She sang Alto in the choir for over 20 years, served as financial secretary, assisted the treasurer in counting money after collection, worked with a group folding and preparing the monthly newsletter, served as an elder and otherwise as needed.

Liz’s most extraordinary achievement was to accomplish her lifelong goal of travel by combining her work in the travel industry with visits to over 60 countries worldwide. This memory video of my wife Liz shows places we have been over the years. The format of the trips always included an airline trip as well as a visit to some interesting place around the globe. Her thorough knowledge of routing, itineraries, “made up” itineraries and split-second decisions expanded how much of the world we could see within the time allowed on our schedule. When we were working, we always added an extra day at the end to arrive home in time to report for work the next day. Our motto was always “We’ll sleep when we can.”

Her love of flying and travel changed from a dream to reality in 1988 when she quit her job as a teller (which she also loved) to apply for travel school. As it happened, the entire savings and loan industry collapsed soon after and she would have been out of a job anyway. As it also happened, Delta Air Lines started hiring after a long period of a hiring freeze. She was hired after only one interview and told to report to Atlanta the following Monday for final approval. I have never seen anyone more thrilled than her in my entire life.

As time went on, we did learn to take time to sleep, and switched to cruises rather than airline trips in order to keep up but at a slower pace. This enabled us to continue to travel for a much longer period of time. All in all, Liz achieved her goals in life and completed what she set out to do.

There will be a celebration of life service with her congregation at the close of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, and in the meantime, donations to the Celebration Fund at Maximo Presbyterian Church, 3200 58th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712 are currently being accepted.