Mary Lou (Delk) Varella

February 18, 1934 - August 3, 2019

Mary Lou (Delk) Varella died on Aug. 3, 2019. She was 85 years old. Family and friends are invited to an informal celebration of her life at noon on Sunday, Sept. 1 at Lake Shawnee Shelter House #6 near the campground. Food and drink will be available 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Casual attire encouraged; Mary Lou liked her jeans and Birkenstocks!

Mary Lou was born Feb.18, 1934, to Furman Casper Delk and Billie Fay Plummer of Greenville, S.C. She was the oldest of three children. After high school, Mary Lou joined the United States Air Force as an Airman Second Class, where she studied meteorology and met Arthur Contreras Varella. They married on Nov. 19, 1953, at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. They had four children.

While her husband was stationed in Europe and the Pacific, Mary Lou lived as a military wife/single mother. At one point, the family didn’t see Arthur for over a year. There were no
international phone calls or emails then, so Mary Lou and her husband kept in touch by writing long letters to each other every day. Before moving to Topeka in 1967, the family lived in Okinawa, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. After the family landed in Topeka on Oct. 11, 1967, Mary Lou began working at the United States Postal Service until her retirement in 1992. She and her husband divorced in 1984 but remained lifelong friends.

A voracious reader of murder mysteries, Louis Lamour westerns, Peter Capstick novels about Africa and many other authors, Mary Lou could often be heard lamenting, “So many books; so little time.” She frequently read a book a day until aging slowed her down.

Mary Lou loved air shows and watching the planes take off and land from inside Topeka’s Billard Airport Cafe. Another thing Mary Lou liked to do was to jump in the car and drive to
nearby towns and past the old family home on Western Ave.

Mary Lou loved limericks, nursery rhymes and silly sayings. Years ago, she recorded herself singing this outgoing message on her cell phone (sung to the tune of “On Top of Old Smoky”): “This is my cell phone ... it’s important to me. ... If you leave a message, it will be important to thee.”

Mary Lou leaves a legacy of strength and positivity. Although she often worked hard, she liked to remind people in her southern drawl, “I was born lazy and then backslid.”

Mary Lou was a standing member of the Metropolitan Community Church in Topeka. She enjoyed traveling, camping and bluegrass music. Every year, Mary Lou and her friends would take her Scamp travel trailer to the Winfield Bluegrass Festival. She loved to spend winters in Las Cruces, New Mexico, until her mobility became limited. Mary Lou also enjoyed spending time with her friends and family, eating out and drinking plenty of sweet tea, hot or cold.

Mary Lou is proceeded in death by her parents; her two brothers, William Price “Sonny” Delk and Michael Timothy “Mickey” Delk; several half-siblings; her husband, Arthur C. Varella; and her son, Arthur Ray Varella. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Tina Delk (Sonny); her daughters, Mary Alice Varella, Frances Fay Varella, and Eleanor Catherine “Cassie” Miles (Frank); her daughter-in-law Renée (Arthur) Varella; her grandchildren, Arthur M. Varella (Colleen); Lyndsey Ann Varella; Amelia Stutzman (Alvin); and Mark Petesch (Melissa), as well as eight great-grandchildren and two nieces.