Mary Ann (Friedrichs) Koenigsfeld, 89, of Marble Rock, Iowa, passed away Thursday, February 8, 2024, at the 9th Street Chautauqua Guest Home in Charles City.
Due to renovations at the Roseville church, services will be held in Greene, Iowa. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., with a rosary at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, February 16, 2024, at Woodley Funeral Home, 519 N 1st St., Greene, Iowa.
Funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at St. Mary Catholic Church, 105 N Main St., Greene, Iowa with Father Frantz Augustin officiating. A luncheon will follow the funeral mass with burial at St. Mary’s Roseville Cemetery immediately after the luncheon. Woodley Funeral Home of Greene is caring for Mary and her family.
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Mary Ann Koenigsfeld finally sat down, took off her shoes and happily reunited with her late husband, Stephen, on Thursday, February 8, 2024. She passed peacefully in her sleep after 89 years of life.
Per the request of her children – and eventually, many of her grandchildren – Mary would often refuse to take a break from graciously hosting the family, in-laws and significant others; to put down the stirring spoon or pitcher of iced tea and just take a moment for herself.
That just wasn’t in her nature.
Born Mary Ann Friedrichs, she was the sixth of seven siblings. She stood out among her counterparts – Robert, Evelyn, Leroy, Edna, Carol, and Wilma – by way of her infectious personality. In school, she took pride in her studies and delighted in her activities. Mary was an accomplished musician – a drum majorette for the Marble Rock Rockets – and could always be heard as a vocal leader in the choir.
Mary rarely had idle hands; her work ethic always in tune with what needed to be done. She employed herself at just 14 years old, nannying for sister Evelyn. From there, she found a way to keep families connected, employed as a telephone operator in Mason City.
On an average afternoon school day, Mary patiently waited for the normal delivery boy to bring milk to her classroom. To her surprise, a new, “goofy-acting” and “goofy-looking” kid relieved the usual carrier, to whom she paid little interest.
As those two grew up in the same little town, that “milk boy” continued to pursue Mary, much to his sisters’ discontent. They would go downtown, dancing, and over her “dreamboat of a partner’s” shoulders, his sisters would taunt them, tongues out and thumbs wedged into the sides of their temples.
Years later, on a crisp New Year’s Eve in 1952, that “dreamboat” married Mary in Mason City, just before he was deployed to Germany during the Korean Conflict. The two remained married for 59 years before his passing in 2011.
“I sure did show them,” she proudly recalled.
For the better part of nearly six decades, Mary and Stephen lived their lives to the absolute fullest. They sincerely enjoyed traveling the country – be it to see relatives, friends, singing in her acapella group, or just to get out of that small town to see how big the world really was.
But nothing brought the two of them more joy than the simplest things – they were a lethal playing card pair and their dance floor moves unmatched, cutting a rug each Saturday night at The Moose.
So often her employed duties centered around others, too – whether it was as an acting housewife, mother or school cook. Prior to retirement, she greeted the daily faces as the Marble Rock post office clerk. Upon leaving the workforce, she applied a keen aviary eye out her kitchen window, finding fondness in her feathered friends.
She learned confidence and independence at an early age. Mary was lovingly teased by her in-laws. A story that gave her equal parts laughter and illness, she recollected her father-in-law once dousing a meal on her plate with enough salt to preserve it for the next 100 years.
She passed each of those familial tests with flying colors.
Her four children – Marty, Jeff, Lorri, and Dan – gave her enormous joy. She delighted in the different paths each took, individual testaments to her own character and resolve that the world inside and outside of Marble Rock got to witness. As each moved out, they never moved on. The holidays in the Koenigsfeld home were a fitting acknowledgement to the loving partnership she and Stephen created.
Community involvement quickly became a phrase synonymous with Mary’s everyday activities. She was devout in her faith and shared God’s grace with her family, ushering everyone out the door promptly at 8:00 a.m. for Sunday morning Mass. She was a weekly fixture at St. Mary Parish at Roseville, and emblematic of her faith, she passed along God’s word both as director of religious education and a member of the Rosary Society.
As her kids grew, she enjoyed being involved with their interests. From helping with Cub Scouts to bowling team captain and museum volunteer, Mary became as well-known as her acquired surname in northeastern Iowa communities.
She continued to share her talents in every way she knew how. As a skillful singer, she deeply embraced her memories with the Sweet Adelines. For nearly 20 years, Mary and her group brought the rich, inviting tone of acapella into the hearts of those willing to listen. Her passions were organically passed on to her children and grandchildren, many of whom remember their first taste of lyrical tune being taught how to harmonize while washing and drying dishes at the kitchen sink.
Mary was always by their side, keeping them in key.
She never fully let go of her passion for setting the oven to 350 degrees. Whether she was stirring up ham and bean soup, delicately twisting the arms of her famous fan coffee cake, or retrieving one of her homemade pies from the porch, those who knew her best often received her love through her food.
Her last and favorite kitchen was in her son’s restaurant for a handful of years in Charles City, where she became fondly known as “the pie lady.” It was a term of endearment she wore proudly.
A true reflection of someone’s life is hardly acknowledged by their possessions. Rather, it’s measured in the experiences and memories handed down to ensuing generations. As a sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother; friend, volunteer, baker, cook, and singer, Mary provided enough lifetimes of memories, emotions, recipes, jokes, and stories to fill the void that is felt upon her passing.
Mary is preceded in death by her husband, Stephen Koenigsfeld; her parents, Carl and Hattie Friedrichs; her parents-in-law Daniel and Mabel Koenigsfeld; and her siblings.
She is survived by her siblings-in-law, Dorothy Streit, Mary Craven, Peter Koenigsfeld, Bernadette Henniger; her children and their spouses, Marty and Sue Koenigsfeld, Jeff Koenigsfeld, Lorri and Brian Chambers, and Dan and Kerry Koenigsfeld; her grandchildren and their spouses Stephanie and Matt Dose, Josh and Hannah Chambers, Seth Chambers and Stacey Taylor, Emily and Nate Knecht, Stephen and Megan Kalb-Koenigsfeld, and Sarah and Joel Fox; her 10 great-grandchildren with one on the way, many nieces and nephews, and so many others who called her “grandma” with absolutely no blood relation.
Few earn the privilege of boasting 89 years of life; 89 years of joy, love, gratitude, friendship, mothership, and partnership; 89 years of hair appointments, midnight ice cream dishes, and crossword puzzles. So, despite the grief of losing a loved one, it is with great pleasure we celebrate the incredible life lived by Mom, Sister, Grandma, Honey – Mary Ann (Friedrichs) Koenigsfeld.
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