Mary Virginia (Kerns) Sponsler died in her sleep of natural causes on April 22, 2015 at the Iliff Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Dunn Loring, Virginia at the age of 94. Her remains are being cremated. A funeral service for the family will be held in her hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri later this year. She is survived by her daughter Mary Ann Mostafavi of McLean, Virginia, Timothy R. Sponsler of Morton, Illinois, Patrick F. Sponsler of Deerfield Beach, Florida, Michael L. Sponsler of Gahanna, Ohio, Frank F. Sponsler of Greenville, Illinois and 16 grandchildren and 18 great-children. She is preceded in death by her husband Roy Joseph Sponsler and her youngest son, Terrence W. Sponsler. Mary Sponsler was born December 27, 1920 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to Rachel Mae (Finney) Kerns of Cape Girardeau and Leonard LeRoy “Roy” Kerns of Hoyt, Kansas. Her father was killed in a railroad accident when she was 2 years old, so she was raised by her mother and uncle, Francis M. “Frank” Finney, a prominent pharmacist in Cape Girardeau. Mary graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She took a job with Pillsbury Mills as a chemist in Springfield, Illinois where she met her husband, Roy, and married in 1944. She was retired from the Illinois Secretary of State where she served for 20 years as an early woman working in data processing/information systems. She wrote programs for the Budget and Fiscal Management Department. She lived in Springfield for over 50 years. She lived the last 12 years in Virginia at the home of her daughter, Mary Ann and in nursing care thereafter. Before moving to McLean she lived in Greenville, Illinois with her son Frank for a number of years. She belonged to the Catholic Church throughout her life. She was an avid bridge player and loved music, especially Frank Sinatra and other “crooners.” In her retirement she traveled for many years to such places as Great Britain, Germany, and Switzerland and cruised from the Gulf of Mexico through the Panama Canal to California. Mary came from good people. She is the glue that held her family together. She was a college graduate before it was normal for women to attend. She was a career woman before it was common. She was a computer programmer before Microsoft and Apple. She has been the center and anchor of the Sponsler family her entire adult life. Many people remember her for her easy smile, infectious laugh and happy outlook on life. She was known for drinking iced tea with orange juice which the family dubbed the Mary V. Tea. She was a role model to her children and grandchildren, especially the women who have become career women and excellent mothers. She is admired and missed.