Mary Kunkel

Hastings resident, Mary Kunkel, 99, passed away June 1, 2009 at Perkins Pavilion, Good Samaritan Society, Hastings-Village. Memorial service will be Monday, June 8, 2009 at 11 AM at the Brand-Wilson Chapel, Hastings, NE with the Reverend Paul Knott officiating. There will be no visitation. Burial will be at a later date. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.brandwilson.com. Mary was born August 12th, 1909 in Lake City, Iowa to Walter and Nancy Katherine Layton Maple. She was the youngest of six children having four brothers and one sister. She grew up on the family farm and attended Lake City High School graduating in 1927. After high school, she attended Randolph Macon Womens College in West Virginia. In 1936 she married her high school sweetheart, Joseph Gustav Kunkel. They had three children, Nancy, Jane, and Tom. In 1948 the family moved to Falls City, Nebraska where they owned and operated the Culligan Softwater business. Joe passed away in 1952 after a battle with cancer. Mary continued to operate the Culligan business until she retired in 1971. She was a dorm mother at Peru State College for several years and then moved to Hastings in 1974 to become the resident counselor in the student health center at Hastings College, a position she held until she retired at the age of 93. During the summer months she worked at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado. Mary was a person of varied interests which included bird watching, playing bridge, reading, painting, and traveling. She was greatly loved by her many friends and family. She is survived by her daughter, Jane Rhodus and her husband Ken of Hastings, Nebraska, her son Tom Kunkel and his wife Nancy of Yankton, South Dakota, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Joe, four brothers and sister, and her daughter, Nancy. Memorials may be given to Riverview Assisted Living or Hastings College in care of the family.