Mary Louise (Gragert) GUNDERSON CHRISTENSEN

CHRISTENSEN, GRAGERT, BISHOP, GUNDERSON, BAKER, GILDERSLEEVE, JACKSON, OEHLERT, MARTIN, OSBORN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/30/2006 at 11:41:54

Clear Lake Mirror Reporter [IA]
Jan. 12, 2005

Mary Louise (Gragert) Christensen, 77, of Ventura, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2005, at Mercy Medical Center North Iowa, Mason City. Funeral Services were held Friday, Jan. 7, at Zion Lutheran Church, Clear Lake, with the Rev. Dean Hess officiating. Interment was at Clear Lake Cemetery. Family suggests memorials to the Mary Louise Christensen memorial fund. Mary was born on Sept. 8, 1927 in Steamboat Rock, Iowa to Frank ElRoy and Nettie May (Bishop) Gragert. Mary grew up around Dows, Iowa and lived much of her life on Iowa farms. She worked for many years selling school supplies throughout Iowa. She then worked at Carlton Stewart Music Company in Mason City selling pianos, organs and music supplies. She worked at Mason City KFC and was known as the buffet hostess. She was honored as employee of the year in 1996 by the Iowa Restaurant Association. She loved gardening and canning, and sharing the fruits of her labor for her own enjoyment and that of her family. Mary was known for putting smiles on her customer's faces and everyone loved Mary for her ever-present positive outlook, in spite of life's adversities. She was baptized in the Lutheran Church near Ankeny. Mary was a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Clear Lake.

Mary is survived by her husband of 39 years, Max Christensen, of Ventura; her two children, Ron Gunderson and his wife, Beth, of Eagle River, Alaska, and Shirley Baker and her husband, Alan, of Ventura. She was grandmother to six grandchildren, Rhonda Gildersleeve and her husband, Drew, Allan Gunderson and his fiancée, Shannon, Wendy Jackson, Murry Gunderson, Angie Oehlert and Ashley Baker. She also had six great-grandchildren, Corey Martin, Shay Martin, Alexis Gildersleeve, Cameron Gunderson, Hunter Jackson and Carson Jackson. Mary has one living sister, Ruth Osborn and her husband, Paul, of Baxter, Minn. and many nieces and nephews. She will be missed by her family, friends and the many whose lives she deeply touched. Mary was preceded in death by her parents; three sisters, Vera, Amy and Charlotte and one brother, Roy. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, Clear Lake, was in charge of arrangements.