Mary Ellen (Webb) Lietz, 100, of Harmony, died January 21, 2021, at the Gundersen Harmony Care Center. A private family service will be held the afternoon of Thursday, January 28, at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Granger, Minn. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
Mary was born April 6, 1920, at Altoona, Iowa, the daughter of James M. and Louisa Webb. She attended rural grade school in Minnesota at Bristol Grove School #151 and one year at Harmony High School. The family moved to Howard County, Iowa, where she attended Cresco High School, graduating in 1938 with a Normal Training Certificate.
For several years, she taught rural schools in Howard County and later attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, graduating in 1966 with a B.A. in elementary education. Mary enjoyed teaching kindergarten in Howard- Winneshiek Schools for 35 years.
On April 22, 1942, Mary married Henry W. Lietz at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Granger. They farmed there until Henry died in 1998. In 2003, she married Oliver Johnson and moved to Harmony.
She was a faithful member of St. Matthew’s Church, holding various offices in WMF, WELCA and the Rachel Circle. She also taught Sunday school and Bible school and sang in the church choir. She was secretary-treasurer of St. Matthew’s Cemetery and Oak Hill Cemetery for many years. She enjoyed sewing and making quilt tops for church projects. She also enjoyed gardening, flowers, traveling and entertaining. With failing health, she entered the Gundersen Harmony Care Center in 2015.
She was preceded in death by her husbands, three brothers and one sister.
She is survived by two stepsons, William (Carol) Johnson of Bullhead City, Ariz., and Stanley (Marge) Johnson of Rochester; one stepdaughter, Judith (Earl) Knutson of Calmar, Iowa; several stepgrandchildren and great-stepgrandchildren, two sisters-in-law, Loretta Lietz of Cresco and Delone Beaubien of Rochester; and many nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank staff members at Gundersen Harmony Care Center for their wonderful care of Mary over the years.
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