Mary Louise Outland

Mary Louise (Calton) Outland, 86, died Sunday, March 5, peacefully at her home in Indianapolis in the loving care of family and friends.

Born August 5, 1936, in Carroll, OH, to Clarence and Mary (Kirby) Calton, she was one of six children. She graduated from Carroll High School and attended two years at Miami University before meeting the love of her life and marrying her husband, Jason, on March 31, 1956. Together, they raised seven children in Auburn, Indiana.

Mary worked at the Evening Star newspaper in Auburn, IN, from 1974 to 1978 as a copy typesetter. In 1971, she and Jason co-founded the Auburn Community Theatre (ACT 1), where she performed many theatrical roles over the next 15 years and won Best Actress at the 1976 Indiana Theatre League state festival. She also was active in Auburn’s Psi Iota Psi Chapter for philanthropic giving. Mary was a newsletter editor for Kruse Auctioneers from 1978-1980, where she met her best friend and partner in crime, Mary Tilden. She continued her office career at Gemini Jewelers (where she also drove a delivery truck with a booster seat in it for her five-foot frame) and finished at Steuben Printing in Angola, IN, from 1988 – 1999.

Mary was well known for her laugh and love of people, but perhaps she was best known for her sense of adventure – always jumping into a car, a new character, or anything in between with no hesitation. On her 50th birthday, her children and in-laws jokingly brought a wheelchair to her home. She didn’t skip a beat as she hopped in, and said, “Let’s go to dinner.”

Mary worked in a traveling murder-mystery entertainment group for over a decade with her husband and daughter, making the role of Gertrude Bogsworth – the unlikeable owner of a billion-dollar chili company — one to remember. “That’s a beautiful dress,” she’d bark at party guests. “Too bad they didn’t have it in your size.” She was an avid reader, card player and spelling bee competitor, winning first place by spelling the word “milieu” at a state fundraiser for literacy in the early 1990s.

Mary is survived by four sons, Bradley (Diane Yost), Craig (Betsy Blake), Noel (Beth Perdue) and Jason (Carol Hoyt), all of the Indianapolis area; one daughter, Angela (Mark) Dollins, in Ridgefield, CT; one daughter-in-law, Samantha Wootten;  eight grandchildren, Curtis (Jennifer) Outland; Eric and Claire Dollins; Isaac Outland; Emma and Ben Outland; and Genna and Cate Outland; two great-grandchildren, Theodore and Evelyn Outland; one sister, Donna (Frank) Fisher of Lancaster, OH; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 59 years, Jason L. Outland; a son, Eric N. Outland; a daughter, Holly M. Outland; a granddaughter, Rachel M. Outland; a daughter-in-law, Jennifer (Perdue) Outland; three brothers, Richard Calton, Leeland Calton and Ronald Carlton; and one sister, Carol Ann Ward.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Indianapolis Public Library- Nora Branch in loving memory of Mary.

Memorial visitation is scheduled for Thursday, March 16, from 4-7 p.m., at Flanner Buchanan-Oaklawn Memorial Gardens (Conner Suite), 9700 Allisonville Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46250.