Mary Allen
Mary Madeline (Young) Allen was born March 1, 1919, near Martinsville, Missouri, the fourth child of Owen and Eppa (Milholland) Young. She died Sept. 8, 2020, at the Haxtun hospital at the age of 101 years, 6 months and 7 days.
When Mary was 1 year old, her family moved to a farm in the sandhills southeast of Holyoke. After a few years of drought and hard times, Mr. Young moved his family back to a farm in northwest Missouri.
On July 3, 1936, she married Vestil Clyle Allen. To this union, three children were born: Norman Eugene, Betty Colleen and Edgar Duane. Mary soon learned to milk cows, raise chickens, grow a big garden and all that goes with farm life. She always did a lot of canning.
Mary loved religious music and taught herself to play hymns on the piano, playing for Sunday school at the country church they attended. In 1947 Mary was baptized into the Christian Church in Martinsville.
When the kids were through high school, having family in Colorado, they decided to move west in 1961. They went to work on the Hartsel Ranch in Hartsel. They enjoyed mountain living but in time moved back to northeast Colorado where they worked for different ranches. In 1969 they decided to take a job at a county farm in Knoxville, Iowa. He helped with the farm work and she helped in the kitchen.
In 1971 Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. After having radical surgery and treatment, the kitchen work was too heavy for her, so they moved to Bethany, Missouri, where they purchased an A&W food business. Always thinking of Colorado, they bought a little place north of Paoli in 1972, retiring in Holyoke in 1981. She worked in the nursing home for four and a half years.
She always enjoyed family dinners. On Easter she enjoyed hiding packages for the kids to find. Everyone had a package with their name on it. Mary always blamed her lame right knee on too much kickball with great-grandkids.
She visited several states, traveling with her kids, walking in both oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. But the biggest thrill was standing on top of a great white sand dune in New Mexico and watching the sun set — so peaceful and quiet.
She made and hand-quilted many pretty quilts to be passed on to her family. She enjoyed her neighborhood birthday coffees and sort of became the “story” teller.
Just three months short of her 100th birthday, she moved into the Carriage House after living alone for many years. She gained many new friends and continued her love of bingo. She never wanted to miss a game. After her eyesight was about gone, they routinely gave her the same bingo card and she memorized the numbers. As one lady said, she could say bingo while the others were still looking to see if they had that number.
In December 2019, Mary learned she had cancer on her scalp. On Jan. 9, she had surgery, which was only partly successful. In July she was told nothing more could be done. She tried very hard to cope with it and keep an upside.
She is survived by her daughter, Betty and Ted Roos of Holyoke; granddaughters, Trish and Kelly Lebsack of Windsor, Shonna and Dan Kafka of Holyoke, and Debbie Allen and Damon Ellis of Holyoke; five great-grandchildren, Jessica and Antonio of Haxtun, Kendra of Haxtun, Ben and Kayla of Holyoke, Caleb and Shelby of Holyoke, and Tucker and Kristina of San Francisco, California; eight great-great-grandkids; several nieces and nephews; and sister, Wanola Myers of Hastings, Nebraska.
She was preceded in death by her husband; sons, Norman Eugene and Edgar Duane and wife Mary; three brothers, Albert, Stuart and Robert; three sisters, Stella and Lee Smith, Myrtle and Lysil Barber, and Margaret and Lonnie Baack; two half brothers, Virgil and Verna Young and Manley and Alice Young; two half sisters, Golda and Paul Willis and Leola and Walter Wheatley; and brothers-in-law, Leland Barber and Lyle Myers.
The funeral service was held Sept. 15 at the Baucke Funeral Home in Holyoke. Burial followed at the Holyoke Cemetery. The service was officiated by Dan Kafka and Kelly Lebsack.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Haxtun Health or Holyoke Volunteer Fire Department.
Arrangements were done by Baucke Funeral Home.