Mary Ann DeSylvia

Mary Ann DeSylvia, 89, of Windsor, Colorado died peacefully among family on January 3rd, 2025.

Born Mary Ann Fritzler July 20th, 1935 in Lander, Wyoming, she lived a rich life of friendship, accomplishment, and service to both God and her community. After moving to Severance, Colorado in 1939, she moved to Windsor, CO in 1947 where she remained, building her legacy.

A 1953 Windsor High School graduate, Mary Ann believed “the gift of time–time to perform a service when the sole reward is realization that one has brightened the life of a fellow human being—is precious indeed”. 

Established in 1945, Mary Ann and her parents were Charter members of Bethel Lutheran Church. Married in 1954, becoming Mary Ann Clouse, she often fondly recounted her early vocation opportunities, starting out as a telephone operator for Mountain Bell, attending 15 years at Bishop’s Mortuary, clerking at Tom & Pat’s Market, acting as “Scale Lady” for Great Western Sugar, and directing activities at the Eventide of Windsor nursing home.

Although her early work history spoke to a heart of service, it was her participation as a Charter member of the Firettes, a ladies auxiliary supporting Windsor’s Volunteer Fire Department for 23 years (1958-1981) that led her to her passion for civil service. Both Mary Ann’s husband Bob and son Kevin were members of the volunteer fire department. Many children who grew up “firebugs” to the volunteer fireman and Firette couples followed in their fathers’ footsteps. Mary Ann was one of the Firettes with a telephone, so she would often receive calls, needing to give directions. Long after she had stopped being a Firette, she often listened to the scanner radio in the kitchen. 

In 1975, the Firettes elected Mary Ann as their representative to the Civic Committee and the Civic Committee sent her to sit on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Mary Ann put her Aims business courses to good use, taking each new learning opportunity as a challenge; she believed that by contributing to various groups, she helped serve as a bridge between the past and the future of Windsor. She served 19 years on the board of the Planning & Zoning Commission of Windsor, dreaming the community forward through teamwork, ingenuity, and citizen engagement to responsibly project what growth and needs Windsor might have 5, 10, 20 years down the road. She often took the road as she switched careers in 1975.Connecting with families through driving a bus 15 years for Windsor’s schools was something she took great pride in. 

In 1981, she was awarded the title of ΕΣΑ Woman of the Year as a member of their service sorority’s Delta Beta chapter. In 1982, Mary Ann was awarded the Citizen of the Year by the Windsor Chamber of Commerce for her community work. Through her involvement in seven organizations, Mary Ann’s contributions through her dedicated volunteerism were recognized as making Windsor a better place. She was still a member of the Firettes, Civic Committee Board, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board at the time of the award, but was also being recognized for her volunteer work sitting on the School District RE-4 Employee Advisory Committee, fundraising and activity organization with the Delta Beta Chapter of service sorority ΕΣΑ, serving as a Sunday school teacher and volunteer at Bethel Lutheran Church, and for her work organizing the Christmas in Windsor craft show (started in 1979) and participating still as a character member of Quality Crafters. Her continued coordination between not only the organizations she volunteered with but other organizations brought cooperation and enrichment to Windsor’s activities and economy. 

After being widowed, she married again in 1982 and became Mary Ann DeSylvia. She continued to serve on the Civic Committee Board in Windsor until it disbanded in 1985, five of those years as president, three years as chairperson of the Harvest Festival Committee. She also continued to sit on the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, Community Service & Education Committee, Library Board, School District RE-4 Employee Advisory Committee, & Town of Windsor Board of Trustees (1990-1992) as both a Trustee & as Mayor Pro Tem. She was heavily involved in the Windsor Chamber of Commerce and served many years as a Board Member. Her commitment to service did not end with her retirement in October of 1989 from driving the bus, she went from being a part-time volunteer to a full-time volunteer; continuing to serve the community as an election judge and caucus volunteer (1976 - 2002), member of the American Legion Post 109 VFW Auxiliary, and could be seen on numerous boards and committees in Windsor from the Board of Adjustments to the coordinator for the Bethel Lutheran Church’s monthly newsletter entitled “The Chimes” to Quality Crafters, to co-chairman of the Bethel Salad Luncheon, and whatever else friends, family, or the community needed help with. 

Mary Ann also took the time to become a world traveler. She often recalled tales of the places she had visited including Russia, Jerusalem, Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Nova Scotia, Portugal, England, Wales, & Scotland. Along with extensive US travel (including AK & HI), she also enjoyed short trips, especially to her cabin in Red Feather Lakes. In her downtime, she went camping, made ceramics, and you could always find her sewing. She found adventure in the wild and unfamiliar as well as in the comfortable and mundane. She could always change a dull moment into a meaningful or humourous one. 

In her efforts to shape Windsor, she has our well-deserved gratitude for her grit, for her creativity, and as one reporter noted, for her being “the epitome of volunteerism”. May she inspire the next generations so that we are all helpers avoiding the burnout that happens when too few take on too much. 

Rest in Peace, to our mom, to our Grammy, to our Dangie, to our friend, to our civil servant, to God’s beloved in heaven, Mary Ann Desylvia. 

Mary Ann DeSylvia is survived by her daughter Charron Feuerstein & son-in-law Randall Feuerstein of Berthoud, CO; her grandchildren A.J. Feuerstein of Arvada, CO; James & Laura Kay “L.K.” Guy of Windsor, CO; as well as Mary Ann’s great-grandchildren Evelyn, Kevin, & Theodore of Windsor, CO. She is preceded in death by her parents Herman & Mary Fritzler, her husband of 27 years Robert Clouse, her son Kevin Clouse, & her 2nd husband of 34 years Frank DeSylvia. 

A memorial service for Mary Ann will be held at Bethel Lutheran Church at 328 Walnut Street in Windsor, Colorado on Saturday, January 11th at 10 a.m. followed by a light lunch reception. For those unable to attend in person, the service will be available on the church’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@bethellutheran 

A private family interment is planned at Lakeview Cemetery in Windsor, Colorado on a later date. Memorial donations may be made to Bethel Lutheran Church in Mary Ann’s honor.