Mary Ann Louise Reuter (nee Byers) passed peacefully from this life on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at the age of 92. Born in Rutherford to Eleanor Maguire Byers and Irvin Milner Byers, she was raised in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Corpus Christi School. In 1957, she married Henry J. Reuter, who was her beloved husband for 44 years. In 1998, they moved to Gilroy, California, to live closer to their son. After Hank's death, Mary Ann spent the next 11 years galivanting around the world with her daughter's family, including a year in New Orleans that unfortunately coincided with Hurricane Katrina. Since 2011, she lived in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended almost every activity involving her grandchildren.

Mary Ann was the eldest of the six children. Though her siblings reported she was bossy, she believed they just did not appreciate her leadership skills. Her desire to have things done the way she wanted led her to her first profession as a registered nurse, which allowed her to tell many people what to do, every day. She was trained and worked at Holy Name Hospital prior to having children, and later, as needed, at a residence for retired nuns. We do not think she was as assertive with her leadership skills with the nuns.

During her children's early years, she was a stay-at home-Mom. Once they started school, she started volunteering extensively at Corpus Christi School as an assistant to the teachers, librarian and courtyard monitor. It was in these last two positions that she fine-tuned her leadership skills to the peril of many a student. For years, every other Saturday, she directed Bingo at Corpus Christi Church, leaving her children to a meal of hot dogs and pork and beans, which is the only meal her beloved husband could cook. During the summer, she ran the swim meets and coordinated the swim team at Hasbrouck Heights Swim Club for more than a decade. She could always be found on deck with a clipboard in hand, reflective sunglasses and a sunburned nose. For the last 20 years of her working life, she was a librarian at the Hasbrouck Heights Public Library, where, once again, those leadership skills came into play. It was during these years that patrons would tell her that she didn't seem as mean as she did when they were kids. One of the perks of her job was ordering the murder mysteries and the historic romance novels for the library, which were her favorites. It would be hard to find many people who read more than she did.

Mary Ann Reuter was a force of nature with an unmatched stubbornness. She loved her God, her family and her community and devoted her life, her time and her talent to all three. Her life was a shining example of a life well-lived in service to others and she is greatly missed.

She is survived by her children John Reuter (Valerie) and Margaret Reuter Stubner (Alex), her grandchildren: Lauren Keats (John), Michael Keats (Dani), Daniel Reuter, and William, Greta, Madeleine, and John Stubner, three great grandchildren and her sister Monica Byers Evins and brothers Michael and David Byers.

Memorial visitation at Costa Memorial Home Boulevard and Central Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights on Friday, April 11th from 6 - 8 PM. Funeral Mass at Corpus Christi R.C. Church 260 Boulevard  in Hasbrouck Heights on Saturday, April 12th at 10 AM. Inurnment following at St. Mary's Cemetery, Saddle Brook.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charity for those less fortunate or volunteer in your community with Mary Ann Reuter-like leadership skills.