Mary Anna Hiner

Mary Anna Hiner danced her way through life – literally.

She wasn’t a professional dancer by any means. That was Mary’s way of having some fun. She loved to do crazy tap dances for her dogs, who were always a captive audience. When her daughter, Marcie, had friends over, she’d start dancing when their backs were turned, just to see if she could get away with it.

To know Mary was to love Mary. She made an impression on everyone she met, through the very end. She spent the last six weeks of her life at the UCSD Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, mostly in the ICU. Everyone on the hospital staff grew to adore her. When she couldn’t sleep, members of the food service team would treat her to a late-night chocolate chip cookie. Her cardiologist even called her family. 

Mary passed away on November 6, 2021 due to congestive heart failure. She was 87.

Mary was born on October 6, 1934 in Grand Island, Nebraska to her parents, Ernest and Lottie Eriksen. Mary was raised on a farm and loved to tell stories about de-tasseling corn each summer. After graduating from high school, she worked in Omaha at Woodmen of the World Life Insurance.  

She moved with her parents to Los Angeles where she met her husband, Marshall, who was serving in the Air Force. They married on March 3, 1956 in Las Vegas and were together for 65 years at the time of her death. 

Mary defined the role of a professional homemaker and ran their home like a small business. She and Marshall were partners in every way, and he credits the success he had in his career to her support and management of their home and family. They always had each other’s backs – even when Marshall would go out of town and come back to a major transformation of their home or yard. More than once, he ended up driving past their house when he returned because he didn’t recognize it. But that was Mary, and he loved her for it.    

Mary was big on tradition and was happiest spending time at home with all her family, including the dogs. She loved her family deeply and was a doting mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She also loved buying scratchers every week and playing bingo, where she developed numerous deep friendships with those she spent years playing with.

Mary was a compassionate person: kind, friendly, funny, and full of integrity and strength. She was well-loved by so many. Mary was predeceased by her parents, and her brothers George Eriksen (Vera) and Robert Eriksen (Alice).  She is survived by Marshall and their daughter Marcie Hanna (Joe), her granddaughter Marianne Bagai (Paul), her great granddaughters Jadyn and Ashlyn, and her best friend of almost 50 years Joy Sturdivant. Survivors also include her brother Charles Eriksen (Mona), her sister-in-law Kathy Sessor and her many nieces and nephews.

Mary will be laid to rest at Miramar National Cemetery.  Her memorial service will be at 11:00am on Saturday, November 27th at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church…17010 Pomerado Road, San Diego, 92128.  Reverend Paul Bagai will officiate the service.

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