Anna Marie Wertz

Anna Marie Wertz, 56, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina passed away on Saturday, March 16, 2024.

Born on November 23, 1967 in Omaha, NE, Anna was the daughter of the late Nancy Ruscica (Raita) and Paolo Ruscica.

Anna spent the majority of her life in the airline industry. Working there allowed her to foster a love for travel that so many knew her for, especially through her email, gone2trvl. Anna loved spending time with friends and family alike, and would even travel with them. Whether it was a family trip to Italy as a young girl or one of her many trips throughout the USA, she was always on a plane going somewhere! When at home, she also enjoyed shopping trips at Dollar Tree and Amazon shopping hauls. She was a shopper for life!

Anna also loved to sing! From a young age to the very end of her life, Anna would always sing! Whether it was in the car or at a karaoke night out on the town, Anna would bring a professional level of fun to any room.

Anna had a love for being near water and fishing! For so many years she would take fishing trips to South Dakota with her ex-husband Ron when they were married. She was the best at catfishing while in South Dakota, and any other time, her favorite fish to catch were “big ol’ crappie” as she’d say. Anna and Phil would fish together at various places and some days she would even out-fish him!

For so many years, Anna dreamed of living at or near a beach. In August of 2021, this became a reality, as Anna, husband Phil, and daughter Elizabeth moved to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. While here, she spent many, many days at the beach and would walk the sandy coast collecting sea shells. On one trip doing this with her mother in law, Bobbie, they nicknamed this “shelling” and shelling became one of her favorite
things to do!

Anna’s shelling led to an over abundance of shells, but during a visit to the Charleston Market, she saw someone had decorated and painted shells. After getting sick, she decided to pick up this hobby to keep herself busy. She would make all kinds of different styles on her shell collection and she even made individual designs for all of her nurses while she was staying in the hospital!

The love that Anna held of all of these things was great, but nothing could top the love she had for her family and friends. This love extended to those that were not even related by blood as Anna and Phil remained close friends with her ex husband Ron and his wife Patricia. Together the four would get together to hang out, celebrate birthdays, and throw holiday parties with all the kids.

Anna is preceded in death by her parents, Paolo Ruscica  and Nancy Ruscica.

Anna is survived by her spouse, Philip Wertz , son Joseph Exley, daughters Mikayla Exley and Elizabeth Wertz, and mother and father in law Bobbie Brown and David Wertz.

Anna will be laid to rest in Omaha, Nebraska, her hometown, with her family. Funeral arrangements will be made at a later date.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at mcalister-smith.com.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral & Cremation, Mount Pleasant, 1520 Rifle Range Rd, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464, (843) 884 3833.