Mary Lou Haferbecker (1943-2021)

HAFERBECKER, BANDY

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 5/11/2021 at 15:32:36

LARGO, Fla. — Mary Lou Haferbecker, 78, of Largo, died Thursday, April 29, 2021, at Largo Medical Center from complications of chemotherapy.

Services will be held Thursday, May 13, at 10 a.m. at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Dubuque. A gathering of family and friends will follow at noon at Happy’s Place on Rockdale Road.

She was born Feb. 9, 1943, in Dubuque, the daughter of Louis Charles Bandy and Mary Lorraine (O’Neil) Bandy. She married Earl R. Haferbecker in Dubuque, on February 3, 1978. She attended some college and became a licensed cosmetologist and went on to be a licensed Realtor in Hawaii and worked in property management. She held various jobs while working for Pacific Architects and Engineers in Moscow, Russia, and Beijing, China, under the U.S. Department of State.

She once said; “Who would have imagined a cosmetologist from Dubuque, Iowa would travel the world as I have.” She had the privilege of meeting several presidents and diplomats, including Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and her favorite, President Joe Biden (twice). She met many movie stars and musicians, including John Travolta, Tom Selleck, Sonny Bono, Paul Simon, John Denver, and Bob and Dolores Hope with Brooke Shields during their USO show in Moscow. She has traveled the world with her husband Earl experiencing riding on the Orient Express, spending a month traveling on the Euro rail through Europe, watching the Berlin Wall come down, riding an elephant in Thailand and standing in the river Jordan where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, attending a Halloween Gala in Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania, feeding the koala bears and kangaroos in Tasmania, visiting the Dachau concentration camp in Munich, Germany, seeing other continents and countries through their travels. She also loved a good game of cards as well as shopping at either Bealls or Ross’.

She is survived by her loving husband, Earl R. Haferbecker, of Largo; her son, James (Kim) Dean, of Ormond Beach, Florida; her daughter, Peggy (Dean) Pickering, of Dubuque; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; five brothers; one sister; and a stepdaughter.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

E. James Reese Funeral Home, of Seminole, Fla., is in charge of arrangements.

Thank you to Largo Family Medical Center Doctors and Nursing staff, E. James Reese Funeral Home, Mt. Calvary Cemetery and Happy’s Place. A special thank you to those that helped us with all the notifications.