Altoona Mirror (PA), October 14, 1909-- Miss Mary Wynne, a nurse of St. Francis hospital, Pittsburg, stopped in this section Tuesday, at the home of Mr. P. Mulheirn. She was on her way to Panama.

This mention of Panama proved to be of paramount importance in the research of Mary Wynne. This was the time that the Panama canal was being built. From Wikipedia: "The United States took over the project in 1904, and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan."

She was probably the servant, Mary Wynne, age and birth year not completely legible, living on Chartiers Avenue, in McKees Rocks, Allegheny County at the time of the 1900 census.

Following her graduation from the school of nursing at St. Francis in 1909, Mary A. Wynne went to Panama to work as a nurse. She resigned on November 28, 1911.

Mary must have met and married Army Officer & Civil Engineer, John Henry Weller, in Panama and then resigned at about the time they married. Their first child, John Wynne Weller, was born in Panama on October 23, 1912.

According to passport applications in 1919 & 1921, she was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on January 4, 1884. Her parents are not named. She stated she had lived in Panama from 1908-1913 (It was 1909.) and in Trinidad from 1913 to 1918. She wished to accompany her husband to Trinidad and Venezuela. At that time, she said they lived at Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and wanted to travel for six months with her two children, John and Jane.

John Henry Weller was a Civil Engineer. He was born in Marysville, Seward County, Nebraska on August 30, 1883. His father was the first president of Concordia College in Nebraska. An online history of the Weller family indicates that J. George Weller, the father, was born in 1860 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and he married Louise Katharina Clara Eirich in 1882 in New Minden, Illinois. He died in 1924 in Seward, Nebraska. John Henry was one of 11 children. It goes on to say,"Johann Friedrich Heinrich (“John Henry”) Weller, born in 1883 in Staplehurst, Nebraska. He worked as an engineer and married Mary Wynne, a nurse."

He was a legal resident of Nebraska, temporarily sojourning in Brighton, Trinidad, when he applied for a passport in 1916 to work in Panama, British & French West Indies, and Venezuela. The following document was from their stay in Trinidad.

By 1940, the family was residing in Radnor, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. John was working as a Civil Engineer for the Turnpike Commission, and they had three children. According to the census, John and Jane were born in Panama, and Robert was born in New York.

Mary belonged to an organization established for the people who lived and worked in Panama. The CANAL RECORD is published by the Panama Canal Society. This photo appeared in one issue:

Mary Wynne Weller, last residence Clearwater, Pinellas, Florida, died August 8, 1984. She is buried at Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Her name is on the stone with her son, Capt. John Wynne Weller. Her husband's name is on a stone with their other son, Robert. Daughter, Jane Weller Witul, died December 25, 1995.

Based on her life, Mary Wynne Weller's obituary seems inadequate: Trenton Evening Times, August 12, 1984-- Clearwater, Florida--Mary W. Weller, 100, died Wednesday at home in Clearwater. - Born in Beaver Falls, Pa., she moved to Clearwater in 1951. Prior to that she lived in Philadelphia. - She was a member of St. Cecelia's Church in Clearwater. - Mother of the late John Weller, who died in 1969, she is survived by a daughter, Jane W. Witul, of Clearwater; a grandchild and a greatgrandchild. - A graveside service at 2 p.m. will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at the Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, NJ.