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Nobody loved her neighborhood more than Mary Wohleber loved Troy Hill, in particular, and the North Side, in general. When this much love of place goes with a woman to the grave, the place loses more than it knows.
A passionate guardian of her community's fabric and well-being, she died last Friday. Would that every neighborhood had at least one of her.
And then one more to take her place.
She was born on Oct. 21, 1916. The North Side was only 9 at the time, having been Allegheny City before Pittsburgh annexed it. Her mother started the first female-owned business there, a real estate agency.
Born Mary Brueckner, she was raised to be independent, buoyant, to think originally, to appreciate aesthetics and respect the past. She believed in the strength of her voice.
"Mum was whatever she needed to do, 100 percent," said her daughter, Sarah Lucas. "She was 100 percent a wife and a mother, and once...