Mary Ellen Neitge How

Mankato Mortuary
388-2202

Mary Ellen Neitge How, 92, died peacefully in her sleep Sunday, March 6, 2011, at Oaklawn Health Care Center, Mankato.

A Funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Friday, March 11, 2011, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Mankato Mortuary, and one hour prior at the church. Burial will take place at Fort Snelling National Cemetery at a later date.

Mary Ellen Wendel was born Nov. 14, 1918, at the Evergreens, the family farm near Sioux City, Iowa, to Alvern Scott Wendel and Loretto Carey Wendel. She was a graduate of Bronson (Iowa) High School, Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, and Iowa State University in Ames. She took additional classes at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Mary Ellen married John R. Neitge on February 8, 1943, in Sioux City. She taught and coached at Bronson High School during World War II. After the war the couple moved to Mankato, where Mary Ellen was a homemaker and an active volunteer. She was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the Mankato Golf Club, Bridge Club, and a founding member of Portfolio. Her passions included her family and many friends, reading, dancing, and travel. A widow for nine years, she married Jared How in 1983. She spent her last months at Oaklawn where she received loving care.

Survivors include three children, Catherine Neitge and Mary (Tom) Hoffman, of Mankato, and John (Barb) Neitge of Woodbury; five grandchildren, AJ Hoffman, Sam Hoffman, Carey Hoffman, Elizabeth Neitge and John Neitge; a sister, Julia Johnson, of Reno, Nev; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Julia Ann, in 1947; a stillborn daughter, Mary Jane, in 1948; her husband John Neitge in 1974; her husband Jared How in 1988; and two brothers, Edward Wendel and Al Wendel.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Echo Food Shelf, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, or to the donor's choice.