Mary Ann Knoll

Mary Ann Knoll, 63, of St. Louis, Missouri, passed away late Thursday morning, on May 15, 2025, at Mercy Health—St. Rita's Medical Center, 730 W. Market St. Lima, Ohio, surrounded by her loving family members Timothy Hendrixson, spouse, Benjamin Knoll, son, and Liz Nutt, daughter-in- Law. Mary is also survived by her sisters Rita LaMonica and Lisa Braatz and by six nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Harold E. Scheppner, Jr., and Georgia Landy Scheppner, her sister Cathy Scheppner and her brother Hal Scheppner, III. After graduating of Nerinx Hall in Webster Groves, Missouri, in 1980, Mary earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Mary started her lifelong passion for the theatre when she began acting in community musical theatre at the age seven with Arts for Children’s Theatre, or ACT, with her siblings. In the early eighties, Mary ran the St. Louis job placement program ‘Youth Services’ among other jobs. She worked for a lot of St. Louis area theatres including the Good Times Dinner Theatre in Fairview Heights, Illinois, Dangerous Visions Productions, UMSL, Westport Playhouse, St. Louis Shakespeare, and many other companies. In 1992 Mary moved with her husband to the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and continued to receive critical praise from the public and the press for her stage work including Bay Area Theatre Critics Awards for her portrayals ‘Miss Adelaide’ in “Guys and Dolls” and ‘Mrs. Hannigan’ in “Annie,” in the Mountain Play, as well as ‘Gertrunde’ in “Hamlet,” ‘Kate,’ ‘Titania,’ ‘Helena,’ and ‘Mistress Page’ at Marin Shakespeare Company and many roles with TheatreWorks, Fool’s Fury, Theatre Rhino, Thrillpeddlers, in addition to the plays Mary acted in, produced, and wrote for the theatre company she started with her husband, The People’s Theatre. Mary was also a member of the professional actors’ unions Actors’ Equity Association, the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild. Mary's last five years required all her strength and courage, qualities she possessed in abundance, but going forward I'll prefer to reflect on the previous fifty-eight years of her life as a force of nature who pretty much astonished everyone she ever met. Quoting our friend Lauren: “Brilliant in every way, our Mary Knoll… As a performer, a creator, a writer, a friend, an expert hula hooper, a gardener, a sidewalk singer, and as the brightest light I may have ever and may ever know. Words fail me, friend, so I will borrow yours… “Hot cross the albatross, it’s all a game of love and loss.”” And quoting Mary’s daughter-in-law Liz: “Mary left this world May 15th, with her husband and her son by her side. She was a wild, fierce, joyful force. She planted gardens in any open spaces, and was proudest of her sunflowers that she grew in Pacifica, because despite the fog and the coastal chill she nurtured these behemoth flowers. She loved Ben, and was endlessly proud of him. Mary was an artist, a playwright, a singer, an actor, a comedian. Even after losing her left hand from the fire last October, as soon as she could sit up she was improvising on her keyboard…” May Mary's memory always be a blessing.

Mary Ann Knoll

December 27, 1961 - May 15, 2025