Mary Opland Springer
May 15, 1951 – March 3, 2026
Obituary | Remembrances from Doug Bartholomew | Moments with Mary by Pam Vellutini
Obituary
Mary Opland Springer, a light to all who were lucky to know her, passed away on March 3, 2026, in Seattle, Washington. Services will be held at 2pm on May 16th at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, 3050 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116. A reception will follow and all are welcome.
Mary was born on May 15, 1951, in Pipestone MN to AnnaMae and Allen (Al) Opland, the third of their three children. Their home was filled with music and laughter, and the gift of music would follow Mary throughout her life.
After moving to Missoula MT to finish her undergraduate degree, Mary met Rick Springer and on August 3, 1975, they married. She was a devoted and magical mother to their two children, Anna Cronin and Jonathan Springer.
In 1980 they moved to Seattle WA, where she spent the rest of her life teaching music and theater to kids across the Puget Sound. Students who had the good fortune to attend her schools learned how to be brave, pushing themselves to try new things and reach new heights under her loving direction.
Mary was a deeply gifted educator who took great joy in crafting lessons and guiding students to explore material, helping them see the world with new eyes. She frequently taught other educators, held workshops at education conferences, and went back to school in her late 40s to get her master’s degree in education. Being an educator was an identity that she wore proudly.
Early in her career, she held theater summer camps that later blossomed into one of her proudest achievements – a community theatre troupe called Twelfth Night Productions (TNP). Over more than 25 years, TNP grew into a beautiful and welcoming community where artists could explore, find belonging, and create lasting friendships that are more like family. TNP became a beloved West Seattle institution, producing four shows a year, including an annual summer musical and holiday radio play.
Mary’s beautiful life touched thousands of lives, and the world is an infinitely better place because she was here.
Mary is survived by her family: husband Rick Springer, daughter Anna Cronin and son-in-law Travis Cronin, son Jonathan Springer and daughter-in-law Shally Springer, and grandchildren Cassius Springer, Oliver Cronin, Laila Springer, and Cecilia (Cece) Cronin.
A memorial service was held for Mary on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Seattle, WA. A video recording of the service can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/@st.johnthebaptistepiscopal6750/streams.
Remembrances from Doug Bartholomew
Mary started working with what is now the SongWorks Educators Association around 1977, when it was still part of Education Through Music. Mary continued to be involved as our group transitioned from Spokane Update weekends through to Music EdVentures and SWEA, and served as the SWEA President from 2006 to 2008.
Mary always brought to our conferences her special gift for developing storylines, character, settings, and tableaus, in song game experiences, songs (Molly Malone), orchestral works (Billy the Kid) and other material. In the way she opened up this material for dramatic potential she showed how we could do this in our classrooms.
Perhaps just as important was the way she supported active involvement from participants, using their movements, thoughts, images, and feelings, always in a way that encouraged us others both to value others’ contributions and to be free to share their own perspectives.
Mary’s gleeful sense of humor, her integrative comments, her ability to value everyone’s contributions, and her boundless imagination made for wonderful dramatic and educational experiences.
Moments with Mary by Pam Vellutini
Whether Mary was introducing a sea shanty or singing about a visit to a frontier town, Mary would use pre-text to assist in the structure of the process of creating tableaus—what she called “moving pictures.” Her introductions pulled ideas from her students to give voice and ownership to the process. Through her questioning strategies, Mary had the gift of creating scenes that would lead to playful opportunities for active creativity and observation.
If the song was set in the Old West, Mary might ask about the frontier town and who and what might be found there. With a sea shanty, she might use the history of the song to create a story which would then “set the stage” for playful scenarios to be improvised and acted out. As “director” it was as if Mary would toss a little pearl to the groups and see what they’d do with it and where they’d take it.
Always, when it was Mary’s turn to present at a conference, I knew we’d be up, moving, creating, and laughing. Mary’s laugh was infectious, her playfulness unmatched, and what a treasure trove of gifts Mary shared with us over the many years we spent together.
I love this opportunity to remember Mary, and to sit with my memories. She was a dear friend and is truly missed.
Below are two books that I’ve used often that were recommended to me by Mary:
- Theatre Games for Young Performers; Improvisations & Exercises for Developing Acting Skills by Maria C. Novelly
- Theater Games for the Classroom; A Teacher’s Handbook by Viola Spolin
