Mary Elizabeth (Polenchar) Kollar, 41, of Macungie, died peacefully Dec. 17, 2024 after a brief but courageous battle with a highly aggressive form of ovarian cancer. She was the daughter of Theresa Polenchar. She and her husband, Eric, were married for more than 12 years and enjoyed spending time with their family and friends, especially their two children.

She was a graduate of Whitehall High School (2001), Temple University (2005) and Chestnut Hill College (2009).

For the last six years, she was employed at Lehigh Valley Health Network as a clinical case manager and was instrumental in helping to develop and extend the Connections program, a specialized program providing care for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder. The number of lives she touched between her work in the program and her previous years of drug and alcohol counseling as a licensed professional counselor are immeasurable.

In addition to her mother and husband, she is survived by daughter, Harper; son, Miles; aunt, Mary Frances Kaminski; mother and father-in-laws and their spouses, Sheree and Richard Wieder, Jeffrey and Lynn; brother and sister-in-law, Ryan and Ariel; nieces, Kiera and Kendall; brother-in-law, Matt; sister-in-law, Julie.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Contributions may be made to her children’s education fund; make checks payable to Eric G. Kollar, 444 Pershing Blvd., Whitehall, 18052-6411.

The Gilbert Funeral Home of Whitehall handled her arrangements.