Mary Alice Gingery

After a lifetime spent joyfully serving her Savior and loving everyone in her path, Mary Alice Gingery, 84, of Marysville, stepped into the next chapter of her eternal calling on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, welcomed into heaven with the same radiant smile she shared so freely here on earth.
The third of four children, Mary was born to the late Dorsey Ray Gingery and Dorothy Sophia (Fallor) Gingery on July 13, 1941, in Benton. She graduated from Mohawk High School in Sycamore, and after a few years of working post-diploma, went on to earn her licensed practical nurse (LPN) degree from Hannah Harrison School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. She returned to Ohio in 1972, where she began her nursing career at Marion General Hospital.
Mary eventually found her professional home in Marysville, sharing her skills with Memorial Hospital and her passion for people while working as a duty nurse at the Ohio Women’s Reformatory. Her empathy, strength and unwavering sense of duty carried her through 25 years of dedicated service until her retirement.
Upon realizing God wasn’t done with her yet, Mary turned retirement into the next phase of living “life on mission,” pouring everything she had into seeking ways to serve others. She founded Warm Up America, a charitable organization that crocheted and knitted afghans for those in need and provided every baby born at Memorial Hospital with a handmade blanket. She also donated blankets to hospice patients, veterans and dialysis centers – a cause especially close to her heart after losing her baby sister to complications of diabetes at a young age.
Never one to let anything go to waste, Mary collected partially used candles to remake into new ones – which she donated to the homeless – as well as pop can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, empty pill bottles for Matthew 25: Ministries and used Bibles, Sunday School materials and Christian literature for Love Packages.
Mary’s mission was simple: to make life warmer and brighter for everyone she met. Her compassion and generosity were obvious to anyone who loved her, but she was best known for her kindness, her laughter, her storytelling and her trademark treat – wrapped strawberry candies she’d hand out two at a time, “one to enjoy and one to share.”
A faithful member of The Well Nazarene Church in Marysville, Mary was a blessing to others in countless ways. She served on her district Nazarene Missions International team, connecting missionaries to local churches, partnered with children’s and youth pastors to coordinate projects and activities that would bridge the gap between generations and was an ever present source of support and encouragement to those around her. She was also a proud member of the Ladies’ Bible Study Fellowship, where she deepened her faith and established new friendships for nearly 20 years.
Mary found joy in everything she did. She loved filling her yard each summer with beautiful flowers, cherished her co-workers and friends, built lasting relationships with people through Warm Up America, stocked up on gummy bears for kids and delighted in finding creative ways to help others – even when her body failed to keep up with her. She believed in the power of happiness and chose to spread that happiness in big and little ways every day of her life, leaning heavily on her faith in both good times and not-as-good times.
It can be said that to know Mary was to love her, but it would be more accurate to say that to know Mary was to be loved by her. She never knew a stranger and had the ability to see people the way Jesus sees people, with untethered compassion and boundless love.
Mary treasured her family and will be dearly missed by her beloved daughter and son-in-law, Dorina (Henrik) Larsen of Marysville; a grandson, Colin Gingery; a sister-in-law, Judy Kay Gingery; and several nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death by her three siblings, Edwin and William “Bill” Gingery and Diana Kae Gingery.
Her family will greet friends from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27, at The Well Nazarene Church, Marysville. A service honoring Mary’s life will be held there at 1 p.m., with the Rev. Brian Richardson and the Rev. Josh Huff officiating. Burial will follow at Oakdale Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Love Packages (who put the word of God into hungry hands all over the world) via this link: https://lovepackages.org/donate/, or to Matthew 25: Ministries (who bring hope to those in need all over the world) via this link: https://m25m.org/.
Arrangements were handled by Ingram & Snyder Funeral Home of Marysville. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family via www.IngramFuneralService.com.