Pepperdine’s flag flew at half-mast this week in memory of a beloved member of the Pepperdine family.
Mary Drehsel a mainstay of Pepperdine’s Heidelberg program died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after an 18-year-long battle with cancer.
Students and colleagues remember her strength her smile her laughter her talent and her tireless love for students.
“She really loved the students. It gave her meaning and purpose in her life said Charles Hall, dean of International Programs.
Students in the program received word Monday that Drehsel’s health was declining, so they held a prayer group, and visiting professor Caitlin Lawrence created a Facebook group called Prayers for Frau Drehsel.”
The extent of her influence was visible in the hundreds of people that joined the group and posted memories about her in the following days.
Tuesday morning students awoke to the news of Drehsel’s passing. Her husband Karl came by the Pepperdine house to share memories with current students where they laughed cried and prayed together.
The group felt unified Tuesday sophomore Max Muller said “talking to each other and comforting each other. She was impossible not to love.”
Frau Drehsel was born Oct. 201949 in Texas and graduated from Abilene Christian University. In 1974 she moved to Heidelberg to start a preschool affiliated with the Church of Christ. That’s when Communication Professor Steve Lemley first met her while he was a Pepperdine visiting faculty member.
“She was a quiet deep effective person Lemley said. She will be very much missed in the administration of the program and in the way she was able to lead and relate to students.”
In 1981 she began teaching German language courses at the Pepperdine Heidelberg program and in the ’90s she became the program’s academic coordinator.
In the classroom Drehsel helped her students gain a better understanding of the German people and culture. She taught a lot of little bits of helpful information recent graduate Jeff Loveness recalled like the fact that Germans have smaller refrigerators or that they might sit down next to you at a restaurant or that they like to keep doors closed.
“I now have a broader sense of the world Loveness said. And that’s one of the greatest gifts you can give people. Frau Drehsel gave that to hundreds of people over her time. I can’t think of any gift better.”
Even through her long battle with illness she never let it get in the way of loving and teaching her students.
“She always came with a smile said Rinn Dow, who attended the Heidelberg program as a student in the 2003-2004 school year and now works for International Programs. She was such an amazing servant.”
Drehsel would sometimes go through chemotherapy sessions then come back to work the next day still actively engaged and interested in the lives of her students Dow said.
For some such as sophomore Andrew Kasabian she served as a grandmother figure.
“She was a role model that we could look up to Kasabian said, and lived her life how you would expect Jesus would want people to live their lives.”
According to the International Programs Office the Drehsel family is in a time of financial need and is accepting donations for the Drehsel Family Assistance Fund. Donations can be made through Pepperdine University’s Office of Advancement.
In addition to a service in Heidelberg a Malibu memorial service will be held Friday March 11 at 3 p.m. in Elkins auditorium.
