Genevieve M Ryan

Genevieve Marjorie Ryan, age 88, of Mankato, died at home on Thursday, April 1, 2010.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Mankato with Fr. Thomas Ryan, CSP, officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Mankato. Visitation will be from 2-5 p.m. on Monday at Mankato Mortuary and from 6-7 p.m. at Good Counsel in the Gathering Space. At 7 pm there will be a Vespers Service in the Good Counsel Chapel with sharing of memories. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Tuesday. Memorials are preferred to the School Sisters of Notre Dame or Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

Genevieve was born on January 15, 1922, to Peter and Genevieve Sexton-Schmelz in Bird Island, Minnesota. She graduated from St. Mary's High School in Bird Island in 1939 and went to Minneapolis Business College. She was united in marriage in 1943 to Francis William Ryan in Minneapolis, MN at the Church of the Incarnation. They had five children: Mary Jane Ryan-Connelly (Bill), Fr. Thomas, Daniel (Mary Claire), Michael (Pamela) and Kevin (Sharon), as well as 10 grandchildren, Jan Marie Olsen, Nicole Ryan, Brigid Ryan-Ling, Ryan Reed, Andrew Ryan, Colin Ryan, Courtney Ryan, Megan Kueffler, Kellan Ryan and Jacinta Ryan and seven great-grandchildren: Connor and Gavin Olsen; Caleb, Emmett and Mairi Ling; Addison and Patrick Ryan.

She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her faith and her family meant the world to her. She served her parish in multiple capacities from altar servers to CCD to choir, was an associate of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a member of the Serra Club, active in the Good Counsel Auxiliary, and served as Eucharistic minister at the hospital. She and her husband Frank were recipients of the Bishop's Medal for Service to the Church and were made Knight and Dame of St Gregory the Great by the Bishop of the Diocese of Winona.