Vivian Ione Rodenz, age 93, of Mabel, died Friday, May 18, 2018, at Gundersen Harmony Healthcare in Harmony, Minn.
Vivian was born on April 13, 1925, near Spring Valley, Minn., to Harry and Winnie (Hess) Vrieze. She graduated from the eighth grade from the Hamilton School in Fillmore County. During World War II she worked as a Rosie the Riveter at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash.
She married Gilbert Patten while she was in Washington and they were later divorced.
On June 9, 1948, she married Earl Rodenz in Spring Valley, Minn., and was mostly a stay-at-home mother to nine children. In 1974 she went to work as a housekeeper and nursing assistant at the Harmony Nursing Home until her retirement in 1984.
In 1981 they moved to the Mabel area, where she remained until April 2018.
Vivian is survived by children David (Judy) Patten of Rochester, Ruth of Mabel, William (Lynnelle) of Rochester, Catherine (Paul) Hagen of Spring Grove, Marilyn (LeeRoy) Parks of Rochester, Anna (Dennis) Miller of Rochester, and Lucy (James) Crawford of Mabel; 15 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, brothers Avery (Donna) of Racine, Kenneth (Joann) of Racine, Floyd of Storm Lake, Iowa; sister-in-law Maxine Vrieze of Racine, and many nieces and nephews. Vivian was preceded in death by her parents Harry and Winnie Vrieze; her husband Earl, sons Peter and Robert, and grandsons Tobias Parks and Daniel Patten.
Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Saturday, May 26 at the Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Spring Grove, with Pastor David Allen officiating. Visitation will be from noon until the time of the service at the church. Arrangements are entrusted to the Mengis Funeral Home in Mabel.