OBITUARY: Mary Jane (Kisner) Wellner, 1898-1997, Mitchell County, Iowa

    [Based on Obituary in Mason City Globe Gazette; July 14, 1997]




                            Mary Jane Wellner

OSAGE, IOWA-- Mary Jane Wellner, 98, formerly of Osage, died Saturday
July 12, (1997) at Greenview Health Care Center, Bagley, Minnesota, of
natural causes.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Champion Funeral
Home with the Rev. Dennis Hanson officiating. Burial will be in the Osage
Cemetery.

She was born Sept. 2, 1898, near Wheelerwood, in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa,
the daughter of George C. and Sarah E. (Dunn) Kisner. She was a member of
the Church of Christ at Wheelerwood where she taught Sunday school and was
Sunday school organist. She graduated from Hanlontown High School in 1915
and attended Iowa State University for two years. 

On March 2, 1920, she was united in marriage to Henry L. Wellner in Franklin
County, Iowa.  After her marriage she transferred her membership to the
Immanuel Evangelical Church in rural Hampton, where Henry was a member. She
taught Sunday School there. Mary Jane was an active member of the American
Auxiliary and the Girls 4-H Club in Franklin County.

In 1959 they moved to Osage from their farm near Fertile. Henry died in
1978. She was Curator at the Mitchell County Historical Society Museum for
seven years. She was a member of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, a
life member of the DAV Auxiliary, member of Daughters of the American
Revolution, and Mitchell County Historical Society. She was the last
surviving member of her paternal family.

Survivors include five grandchildren, Arley Hockenson of Osage, Jayne
Hockenson of Osage, Jack Hockenson and wife, Lynette, of Solway, Minn.,
Galen Hockenson and wife, Kathy, of Bemidji, Minn., and Gary Hockenson
and wife, Cindy, of Bemidji, Minn.; 17 great-grandchildren; and 12
great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Henry, in 1978; daughter,
Mrs. Arnold (Phyllis) Hockenson, in 1987; four sisters; and four brothers.

The Champion Funeral Home, Osage, is in charge of arrangements.



           Copyright 2004, K.L. Kittleson