Mary D. Waite

Mary Dean Braatz Waite, 94, of Garner, passed away Wednesday, September 20, 2023, at the Good Samaritan Society in Forest City.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, September 30, 2023, at St. Boniface Catholic Church with Fr. Andrew Marr officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at the church.   

In lieu of flowers, please make a memorial donation to one of your favorite charities or the National Audubon Society (www.audubon.org), Reading is Fundamental (www.rif.org), or the Parkinson’s Foundation (www.parkinson.org) in Mary’s name.

Mary was born on February 11, 1929, to Werner Robert Braatz and Elizabeth Louise (Sprong) Braatz in Whittemore (Kossuth County), Iowa.  Her father was a meat market clerk and the family moved frequently in northern Iowa.  Mary graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1947.  On October 29, 1949, she married Robert Earl Waite in Marshalltown. They lived in Marshalltown, Garner, Goodell, and Britt.  Mary lived at the Valley View Nursing Home in Greene, Iowa the last few years of her life. Mary enjoyed family get-togethers, cooking, reading, puzzles, and coloring.  She had a lifelong love of birds.  Mary and Bob went to Pharr, TX, for over 15 years and made many friends there.

She was a member of St. Boniface Catholic Church in Garner where she taught catechism.

Those left to remember and cherish her memory are her children, Allan (Audrey) Waite of Moorehead, MN, Debra Haugen of Garner, Diane (Doug) Ingersoll of Clover, SC and Amy Waite (David Zavortink) of Camas, WA; her sisters, Betty Christerson of Marshalltown, IA; Sharon Meggison and her husband Jim of Waterloo, IA; nine grandchildren, Deana Lickteig, Kayla (Curtis) Benttine, Lincoln Waite, Adam (Pamela) Roberts, Brent (Jennifer) Roberts, Craig Roberts, Katie Ingersoll (Julie Tozer), Ivan Zavortink (Katie Veys) and Kira Zavortink (Dylan Mitchell); step granddaughter, Deanna Haugen; twenty-one great grandchildren, Lillith (Jeremy) Harbaugh, Olivia Lickteig, Elizabeth (Ian) Kulow, Jillian Butner, Krysta Waite, Kaitlyn Waite, Alan Benttine, Wesley Waite, William Waite, Wren Waite, Cody (Thea) Roberts, Kourtney Roberts, Brandon Roberts, Paige Roberts, Clayton Roberts, Connor Roberts, Madeline Roberts, Isabella Roberts, Louise Tozer, Theodore Zavortink, Ryla Mitchell; step grandchildren, Jonathon Burress and Samantha Haugen; nine great great grandchildren, Melodie and Ballad Harbaugh, Logan Samson, Freya Scharlau, Alistair Roalfs, Celeste DeRaad, Cameron Zirbel, Seeley Kulow, Arthur Kulow; and many many nieces and nephews.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Robert (Bob); her parents; two sons, David and Andrew; three children in infancy, Donald, Abbie, and Annie; her brothers, Charles and Louis (Sr.) Braatz, her sister, Elizabeth Klein; brothers-in-law, Leroy Klein, William Christerson; son-in-law, John Haugen; and step-granddaughter, Julie Haugen.