Mary Lawler
May 12, 1915 — March 7, 2010
Mary Katherine Lawler, 94, of Eldora, IA passed away from natural causes on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at Valley View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Eldora, Iowa under the care of Cares Initiatives Hospice. Funeral mass will be held at 10:30 A.M. Friday, March 12, 2010 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Eldora, with Father Paul Baldwin officiating. Burial will follow the funeral mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Eldora. Visitation will be held Thursday, March 11, 2010 from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. with a rosary service at 7:00 P.M. and a scripture service to follow, at Creps-Abels Funeral Home in Eldora. Memorials may be made to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 614 Washington Street, Eldora Iowa 50627.
Mary Katherine was born to Albert and Mary Anna (Carroll) Schafer on May 12, 1915 at the Iowa Falls Hospital. She was raised on the family farm near Iowa Falls and attended school in Iowa Falls; graduating from Iowa Falls High School in 1932. Mary attended State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa and graduated in 1934.
She was a member of the Altar and Rosary Society, the democratic Central Committee, the Saint Mary’s Funeral Committee and several local bridge clubs.
She taught in a country school in Franklin County until she was united in marriage to her husband Lewis Lawler at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Iowa Falls in 1938. She and Lewis then moved onto a farm in rural Union, Iowa and lived there happily until 1980. They then made their final move to Eldora and lived there together until Lewis’s death in 2001. In 2006 she moved to Valley View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center until her death on March 7, 2010. She will be loved, missed and long remember by her friends and family.
Mary Katherine is survived by her children Barbara Jean (Harlan) Hanson of Ames, IA Paul Francis (Donna R.) Lawler of Union, IA, Thomas Albert (Elaine) Lawler of Waverly, Iowa, Catherine Susan (Reid) Richards of Bloomington, IL and Charles Michael (Donna M.) Lawler of Union, IA; her 13 grandchildren and 29 Great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Lewis, grandson Theodore and two sisters and three brothers.