A celebration of life service for MarySue Wilson Dowd will be at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at Bonnerup Funeral Service in Albert Lea. The Rev. Don Malinsky will officiate. Family and friends may gather one hour prior to the service. Private family interment will happen at a later date.

MarySue Wilson Dowd was born Dec. 16, 1937, in Coggon, Iowa. She graduated from McGregor High School. She then moved to Minneapolis, where she worked for the telephone company. Later moving to Albert Lea to raise her children, MarySue worked at many different places and retired after 25 years with Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea. She spent her winters in Arizona at her second home. Also, in retirement she helped with ride service for Senior Resources. She loved helping people in need.

MarySue is known for her kindness and she always had a smile on her face. You wouldn’t see her without lipstick and her sparkle hat on. She loved to travel with her family. Her grandchildren were her world! She had personalized license plates with all their initials on it. In her eyes, she never believed she was spoiling her grandchildren, but that it was always out of pure love. 

MarySue was diagnosed with kidney failure six years ago. Though very difficult and painful, she remained a fighter. It was very hard for her to lose her independence. She showed her family and friends how to fight and not complain. She was determined to live as long as she could to be with her family.

MarySue passed away surrounded by family Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at St. John’s Lutheran Community in Albert Lea. She was 81.

She is survived by her children Debbie (Larry) Bergeson, Diane (Jim) Anderson, Dwight Dowd and Denise (Drake) Dietz; grandchildren Jennifer (Phil) Schmidt, William (Nikki) Anderson, Dyllan (Andrea) Dietz, Devin Dietz and Lance Anderson; the apples of her eyes, great-grandchildren Lawson Schmidt and Mia and Dean Anderson; brother, Walter B. Wilson; and extended family and dear friends.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Ida Louise Elizabeth Miner Haapoja; father, Joseph Wilson; and brothers Joseph Wilson and Paul Wilson.

The family would like to thank St. John’s Lutheran Community for taking care of MarySue the last couple years. She loved all of you for helping her with loving hands. Also, thank you to the Albert Lea dialysis unit who helped her fight a good fight. To all the medical staff in Albert Lea and Rochester, thank you for your support and excellent care she received.

“A grandmother’s touch is like a kiss from an angel. As we send her on her next journey, somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue. Her family is eternally blessed to have her as long as we did. There will be no other quite like her,” her family stated.