Mary Northam

MARY M. NORTHAM

Mary M. Northam, age 93, of Winona, died on Friday, December 18, 2015, at St. Anne Extended Healthcare in Winona after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Mary was born August 22, 1922, in Ottawa, Canada, to Nora and James Lawler. The youngest of four children, she grew up in Chicago, IL, where her good friend and co-worker Jeanette Northam introduced her to her big brother, Robert. Mary and Robert Northam were married in 1944 and moved to Winona in 1946. Bob had attended Saint Mary's College before the war and loved the area.

Mary was active in the church and around the community as a volunteer: Catholic Daughters, Birthright, Reader's Theatre, Adoration at Cathedral and St. Anne's Hospice. She was a busy lady but still found time to be a mother to seven children: Robert C. (Karen), Laurence E. (Sandy), William P. (Jan), Joan F. (Greg Spence), Carolyn M. (Jerry Newman), Virginia A. (Curt Wilson), James V. (Darcey Wera), all of whom can testify that she, indeed, had her hands full.

Mary and her husband enjoyed traveling, regularly piling all seven children in the station wagon for summer vacations and always looking to see what was on the other side of the next hill. Visiting Montreal for the World's Fair in 1967 was a homecoming of sorts for the transplanted Canuck, and her travels took her many places during her lifetime: Ottawa, the Black Hills, Yellowstone Park, Glacier Park, Arkansas, the Virgin Islands, and more recently La Jolla, CA, for the wedding of her granddaughter, Liz, and Las Vegas, NV, for the wedding of her grandson, Brian.

But her love for travel was nothing compared to her love for family and home. With seven busy kids, home wasn't always tidy, but it was always friendly, warm and welcoming. Family, friends and visitors felt at ease in Mary's house. There were no plastic coverings on the furniture or rooms that were out-of-bounds. Her home was lived in as she meant it to be.

Preceding Mary in death were her parents, Nora and James; her brothers, James, Laurence, and Jack; and her husband, Bob, who died in 1988.

Surviving Mary are her children (all seven); grandchildren: Virginia (Cory) Charboneau, Nicholas (Lara Stroinski) and Bob (Shelby Neitzke) Spence; Brian (Korie) and Andrea Northam, Liz (Matt) Machado, Mike Newman, Thomas (Bree Kamann) Wilson, Andrew (Lindsey) and Alicia Northam; and great- grandchildren: Calvin and Caitlin Mikkelsen, Jordan and Olivia Teal, Rylee and Amelia Northam, Alexis Wilson, Brodyn Dye, Bailey Spence; and Mary’s special friends: Lynn Wilson, Cassie Sagen, Florence Kohner, Marie Williamson, and Lu LaFavor.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, December 22, 2015, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The Reverend Monsignor Richard M. Colletti will officiate.

Mary will be laid to rest in St. Mary’s Cemetery in a private family ceremony.

Visitation will be held at the Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home on Monday, December 21, 2015, from 4 PM until 7 PM, where the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary will be held at 6:45 PM.

There will not be any visitation held on Tuesday, please meet at the Cathedral for the Mass.

Memorials may be directed to St. Anne Extended Healthcare or to Callista Court.

Online condolences or memories may be left for Mary’s family at www.watkowski-mulyck.com