Obituary of Mary Ann Kern

DYERSVILLE, IOWA

Mary Ann Kern, 88, of Dyersville passed away Saturday, April 6, 2019, at the Guttenberg Care Center in Guttenberg after a brief illness.

Visitation will be held from 3 – 7 pm Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at Kramer Funeral Home, 750 12^th Ave SW in Dyersville where a parish vigil service will be held at 3:30 pm and a Catholic Daughters Rosary will be recited at 4 pm.  Visitation will continue Wednesday from 9 – 10 am at Kramer Funeral Home prior to funeral services.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 10, 2019, at St. Francis Xavier Basilica in Dyersville with burial in the church cemetery.  Rev. Ralph Davis will officiate.

Mary Ann was born February 22, 1931, in Kelly, Kansas the daughter of Henry S. and Veronica E. (Lahr) Russ.  After her mother’s death in 1936, she and her brothers came to Hopkinton to be raised by their grandparents.  She worked as a hired girl for area families until she graduated from the Hopkinton High School in 1948, when she took a job at Al Danz’s Ben Franklin Store in Dyersville.  She married LeRoy C. Kern on February 13, 1957, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Sand Springs and helped LeRoy at the Kern Locker until 1980, when the business was sold.  They then owned the Montgomery Ward franchise in Dyersville for 5 years when she went back to work at Westlinden Locker until finally retiring in 2004.

Survivors include her children, Bernie and Carol Kern, both of Dyersville, a brother, Anthony (Alice) Russ of Hopkinton, a sister-in-law, Rita Russ of Monticello, an aunt, Mary Jane Felton, and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, LeRoy, in February, a brother, Nicholas Russ, an infant sister, Anna, and several aunts and uncles from the Lahr family, with whom she was raised.

We would like to thank the excellent staff at the Guttenberg Care Center for the wonderful care and kindness shown to our family these last several months.