Mary Ellen Hintze Pugsley

Our loving and devoted mother, grandmother, and friend, Mary Ellen Hintze Pugsley, passed away on the afternoon of May 4, 2025 in her home, surrounded by all of her children. Mary Ellen was born October 27, 1947 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Mariam Ellis and Hugh Jones Hintze, joining her two older sisters, Suzanne and Telitha, to complete their family.

Mary Ellen grew up on University Street in Salt Lake City, across the street from the University of Utah. She attended nursery school on the university campus, then stayed on campus for kindergarten through junior high at the William M. Stewart School. She finally left the university campus to attend East High School, where she served as senior class secretary. Mary Ellen returned to the University of Utah for college, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. Later in life, Mary Ellen would return once again to the University of Utah to earn her Master of Business Administration degree, which she completed in 1994.

Some of Mary Ellen’s most cherished memories involved traveling, both near and abroad. She spent summers at Bear Lake and the family cabin in Brighton, Utah, and traveled the globe with friends and with her mother. Whether by ship, plane, or car, Mary Ellen loved to experience the world and collect reminders of her journeys. She loved to tell stories about traveling to far-flung locations in Europe, visiting the USSR, shopping in Hong Kong and San Francisco, and sailing across the ocean for a Hawaiian vacation. She also loved traveling closer to home, frequently taking her children to Moab and the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.

After graduating from college, Mary Ellen worked as a bank teller for a year before she got a job as a teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School, where she taught for almost two years. She left teaching to focus on her family after her first child was born. Years later, her work outside the home was focused on serving her community. She served for years as part of the Brighton Community Council, the Big Cottonwood Canyon Association, where she served as president for four years, and also as the president of the Association of Community Councils Together. Mary Ellen helped her classmates stay in touch throughout the decades by helping to organize East High School reunions as part of her responsibilities as senior class secretary. Throughout her life, she found great satisfaction in working for the causes she believed in, and helping others through that work.

On June 16, 1970, Mary Ellen married Scott Pugsley, later divorced. Together they raised five children in the neighborhood near Bonneville Elementary School in Salt Lake City. Mary Ellen was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She enjoyed many dear friendships with those in the Yalecrest Second Ward for 51 years. Mary Ellen was a fierce advocate for her children, helping them navigate their school years and guiding them into adulthood. Her children were lucky to always have Mary Ellen in their corner.

Mary Ellen was preceded in death by her parents, Mariam and Hugh Hintze, her sisters, Suzanne Weaver and Telitha Giesler, her daughter Karen Mary Pugsley, and her granddaughter Martha Jane Pugsley. She is survived by her children Eliza Pugsley Stewart (Joshua), Joseph Hintze Pugsley (Cori), Jacob Scott Pugsley (Anna), Clara Mariam Pugsley (Monica Adams), and Seth Hintze Pugsley (Melina), as well as 16 grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

There will be a public viewing for Mary Ellen on Friday, May 9, 2025 from 6 to 8 PM at Larkin Sunset Lawn at 2350 East 1300 South in Salt Lake City, Utah. A private family service will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2025 before her interment at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.