Mary E. Grosland

Mrs. Mary Eileen (Shoemaker) Grosland passed away August 5, 2009, at Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City, Iowa. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 2, 2009, at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, Iowa, with Rev. Kent Mechler of Good Shepherd Health Center officiating. Private burial will take place in the family plot in Rockford Riverside Cemetery, Rockford, Iowa. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the family at 4310 51st Street, Des Moines, IA 50310.

Mary was born April 2, 1918, in Palmer, Iowa, to Leonard L. and Esther E. (Lorenz) Shoemaker. After several short periods in other locations, the family moved to Mason City, where she was raised and attended school.

She married Olendes Grosland on July 4, 1937, in Albert Lea, Minnesota. After living for a short time in Kensett, Iowa, they moved to Mason City, where they spent the rest of their life together and raised three children before Olendes died in 1972. In June, 2002, she moved to the Cornerstone Apartments, where she lived until transferring to Good Shepherd in July, 2009.

Mary attended Monroe Elementary School through fifth grade and McKinley Elementary School for sixth grade. In June, 1930, at age 12, she completed short courses in arithmetic, penmanship, rapid calculation, spelling, and typewriting at Hamilton Business College, now Kaplan University. She graduated from Mason City High School in 1936 and received an academic scholarship, which allowed her to attend Mason City Junior College in 19361937.

She played viola in the Mason City High School Orchestra, cornet in the Mason City Marching Band, and viola in the Mason City Womens Civic Orchestra in the 1930s.

She was also a member of the Girl Reserves and Hi Tri and a counselor for Hi Tri through the YWCA and at Methodist Summer Camp at Clear Lake, Iowa, in the 1930s.

Before she married, she clerked at the Newberry Dime Store while attending junior college, and clerked in the Montgomery Ward store yard goods and sewing departments in the early 1940s.

Mary also was intimately involved in the 25th and 50th Mason City High School Class of 1936 reunions and organized the 35th, 60th, and 65th reunions.

Twenty years after high school graduation, at the age of 39, Mary re-enrolled in Mason City Junior College for the 1956-1957 school year. She received her A. A. (Associate of Arts) degree, and Silver Spoon honors - a full membership in the Iowa Junior College Honor Society, in July, 1957.

She was PTA vice-president at Hoover School the year it opened and president the next year. In 1957, she began teaching at Mason Citys Grant Elementary School, where she taught until retiring in 1980.

In addition to teaching, she continued her education by attending classes at night, on Saturdays, and in the summer, at the junior college building, Drake University, and Cedar Falls Teachers College (now UNI), and, by correspondence, from Iowa City.

She received her B. S. E. (Bachelor of Science in Education) from Drake University in 1963, at age 45, and her M. S. E. (Master of Science in Education in school administration) and permanent certification in 1968, at age 50.

During high school and junior college and before returning to college, Mary gave marionette (dolls with strings) shows in her classes and marionette shows, puppet shows, and chalk-talk performances in country schools, churches, and on other occasions in Cerro Gordo and Floyd counties, and as far away as Dows, Iowa. She wrote her own plays for her marionette and puppet shows, and the jargon for the chalk talk picture performances she presented. She kept documents, news items, and thank you correspondence for 99 of these many appearances.

As part of the W. P. A., she taught how to make rag-bag puppets at the public library. After she married and had children, she made rag bag fist puppets and gave plays in her children's classes for special occasions and, as a treat, for classes in other schools. She later remembered being told that she had been hired to teach at Grant School because the principal saw her application and recognized her as the puppet lady from a round of puppet shows she had done for all of the Mason City elementary schools, and he was so impressed that he requested she teach at his school.

Mary also enjoyed playing Santa Claus at family gatherings, at school, and while surprising senior citizens at their homes on Christmas Eve. She also enjoyed dressing as a hobo, or some other character, to bring treats to her childrens elementary classrooms.

She corresponded and exchanged gifts with a number of English, French, and Mesquakie pen-pals from high school through several wars, some for over eight decades, and visited them on several occasions. Her most recent correspondent, with whom she exchanged letters for over 20 years, was a Japanese lady she met on a plane flight from Hawaii in the late 1970s.

Marys consuming interest in genealogy occupied a large portion of her time, especially after retirement, and led to her membership in a variety of related organizations and museums, including the North Central Iowa Genealogy Society, the Louisa County, Iowa, Genealogy and Historical Society, the Kinney Pioneer Museum, and the Worth County Historical Museum, among others.

She was a member of the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, MA, the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Mason City, the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Clear Lake, and the Mason City Area Retired School Personnel Association (MCARSPA), and was a life member of the Iowa State (ISEA) and National (NEA) education associations.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Olendes, her parents, Leonard and Esther Shoemaker, and three brothers, Lorenz (Doug), William (Bill), and Keith Shoemaker.

She will be missed by her two daughters, Linda (Jim) Mabry, of Buffalo, NY, and Laura (Cliff) Reublin, of Mason City, one son, David (Kathleen) Grosland, of Des Moines, IA, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and two sisters, Ruth (Paul L.) Boal, of Des Moines, IA, and Joan Thompson, of Aurora, IL, several sisters-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews.