Mary Helen Mutch Todt, daughter of Helen Lois (Brevoort) and William Warren Mutch, was born in Red Bank, NJ at Riverview Hospital when it was a house with 32 beds on the Navesink River. Beloved wife of William E. Todt, she filled their lives with joy, optimism, enthusiasm, energy and love. She passed away on January 13, 2026.
Teaching English and French 31 years at Red Bank High and Red Bank Regional Schools followed Mary’s positions in Oakland, CA, at the American Air Force base in Chaumont, France, and Punahou School, Honolulu. She was nominated NJ Teacher of the Year 1978.
The daughter of a college physics professor, Mary grew up in five different college towns from Fargo, ND, to Crawfordsville, IN, graduating from CHS. She returned “home” eagerly for 74 years to a family cottage between Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake, on the grounds of the Congregational Summer Assembly, Pilgrim, MI. Mary’s participation in many CSA activities engendered a lifelong love for swimming, theater, choral music, the great outdoors. She was active in creating the CSA Education Fund and supported regional conservancy programs.
Mary, always curious, loved new experiences. Immediately after college she went to Los Angeles, where she accepted the position as assistant treasurer and editor of the weekly newspaper for Immanuel Presbyterian Church. She wrote scripts for a documentary film company. In the 1950’s her travel alone from Hawaii through the Orient and India to France included an extended hospital stay in Karachi, Pakistan. Retiring from teaching, she became a travel agent, certifying her title “SCOTSmaster” with a cap-and-gown graduation from Glasgow’s town hall, friend and poet laureate Eddie Morgan as her guest. Surely, her three Scotish-born immigrant grandparents looked down with pleasure. Affiliated with Colpitts Travel Center, Middletown, NJ, Mary enjoyed the detail of creating independent travel for clients and leading group tours for friends.
Accepting challenges, Mary at 23 certified as a lifeguard in Honolulu after a 40-foot dive, enjoyed paragliding in the Swiss Alps at 82, and parasailing at 84 in St. Martin. Historic monuments, cathedral towers or ascending terrain always beckoned her to their summit from which she returned with a radiant smile. Mary recalled with pleasure the time, as chair of cultural activities, she and her committee organized the entire student body of Red Bank High School to walk through town to the Count Basie Theater for a program by the Alvin Ailey Dancers.
She met her husband Bill in 1962 at the NDEA French Institute at Penn State. The couple lived in Red Bank, spent 50 years in Little Silver, moved to The Atrium at Navesink Harbor. Together they enjoyed family gatherings; many friendships; gardening; yearly productions of the Festival Theater in Stratford, Canada; proximity to New York and Bucks County, PA; river cruises. Mary sang in the choir of the Red Bank United Methodist Church, housed visiting concert artists for the church’s International Concert Series which Bill managed, hosted small jazz concerts in their home. In 1975 she organized housing, meals, and entertainment for Austrians installing a new organ for the church. She assisted her husband for 25 years with Jazzmuze, Inc. publications of jazz pianist Joe Utterback’s compositions.
A graduate of The College of Wooster, Ohio, Mary successfully auditioned in her first semester to participate in Wooster’s performance of Bach’s Mass in b-minor under the direction of Robert Shaw. She earned a Masters Degree in Shakespearean drama at Montclair State.
Predeceased by her parents and her brothers William and David Mutch, she leaves behind her husband William E. Todt, her sister Nancy Donald, Rochester, NY and nieces and nephews in Canada, Vermont, Wisconsin, Nevada and New York.
Services are private under the direction of Thompson Memorial Home, Red Bank, NJ. Memorial contributions may be made to the Parker Family Health Clinic, 211 Shrewsbury Ave, Red Bank, NJ 07701 or The Point Betsie Lighthouse, 3701 Point Betsie Rd, Frankfort, MI 49635.
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