Mary Ann Rude
  • Born on: April 24, 1946
  • Departed on: October 10, 2022
  • Resided in: Hawkeye, IA

Mary Ann Rude

Mary Ann Rude, 76, of Hawkeye passed away on October 10, 2022. Services will be held October 22, 2022, at Fayette Opera House at 301 S. Main Street, Fayette IA. Visitation will begin at 1:00 PM with a service following at 2:00 PM officiated by Pastor Roland Waterman. Fellowship with Coffee and treats will be directly after. In Lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the family.

Mary Ann lived most of her days bigger than life. She arrived earlier than expected while her family was on a trip from Kentucky to Indiana. She was born on April 24, 1946, to Edna Elizabeth (Hatfield) Newport and Lloyd Richard Newport. She had 5 older half-siblings, and a younger brother who would arrive in 1948. Because of modern social media (and Mary Ann definitely was social) she kept in regular communication with her cousins Leonard Newport, Betty Johnson, and Elsie Kramer.

In 1952 her family moved to South Saint Paul where she would remain until graduation in May of 1964 from John A Johnson High School of Saint Paul, MN. She stayed in contact with some of her favorite classmates Sue Wegner, Evelyn Johnson, and Donna Frederick. She met Irene (Anderson) Gusta at Charles City Wesleyan Methodist Church Camp. They became friends and Mary Ann traveled down to West Union, Iowa to spend time with Irene at her home, where she ended up staying. She met Douglas Anderson, and they were married and had two children. Mary Ann always referred to them as her favorite daughter, Donna Mae (Anderson) Lawson and her favorite son, Daniel Scott Anderson. Her and Douglas later divorced, and Mary Ann remarried to Marvin Ross Neidt, later marrying Darrell Lane Weeter, and eventually her true love, Daryl Lee Rude, they were married June 3rd, 1989, they remained married until her last breath.

Mary Ann had many various jobs during her life. Each one of them were, in one capacity or another, social orientated. She was a nurse’s aide, a bartender, an in-home vacuum cleaner salesperson, and she owned a couple of small thrift shops during her lifetime. There were few things she loved more than finding a great bargain, especially, on purses, clothes, or shoes. She loved to re-purpose items. Her talent of making new clothes out of old ones was probably not appreciated near enough by her children when they were youngsters. She loved finding gifts, and then sharing with someone who needed that special something. On more than one occasion she surprised her husband Daryl with some sort of little gift. Anytime her grandchildren visited her they were given “Walmart bags” to go shopping down in her Thrift store in the basement. It was the last store she ran after she retired. It provided her hours of sorting, separating, and finding new ways to re-use old items. She ended her working career as a certified nurse’s assistant working in Oelwein at Mercy One Senior Care. At her request Mary Ann spent her last weeks at Mercy One being cared for by some of her former co-workers, whom she cared for deeply. 

Mary Ann was an actress her whole life through. She loved to entertain. Many times, at the different care facilities she worked at her favorite daughter helped with performances. She loved to dress up and create costumes, she did not need Halloween to participate. She also loved her clients. In her later years she started a wildflower garden in her front yard. Trinkets were added with names of those who left this world.

Mary Ann was also blessed by God with the gift of ESP, and she shared what she was given with many from helping some find car keys to working on quite a few police investigations. She was especially involved to the case of Jodi Huisentruit. She spent countless hours searching for callings and working with many groups in an attempt to find Jodi. Her family hopes that Mary Ann finds the answers to this case, which she worked so diligently to solve. 

Her Christmas gifts to her family were always something to be treasured or consumed. Many years she filled goody boxes (think moving boxes) filled with Christmas candies, treats, and fruitcakes. She also spent many hours in her kitchen making Jellies which she would box up and have at the ready to share with her Florida family. Sometimes a separate suitcase was needed just for Jelly. Grandchildren fought over who could end up with the most after they left family gatherings. All of us somewhere in our homes have a braided rug, a trivet, or even a small jar of her miracle lotion. (Donna Mae does know the recipe for the lotion, anyone wanting it, see her after services. Mary Ann kept it a secret from everyone, until Donna Mae found her supplies.) Mary Ann found joy in sharing her talents with her family and friends her whole life thru. She treasured her friends and when she was introduced to Facebook, she renewed old friendships and found many new ones. Though she lost most of her tongue to cancer that never stopped her from talking. 

Mary Ann left this world to catch up with those who had left before her. Her parents, Edna and Lloyd, Step Mom Esther, 4 half-siblings; Margaret, Charles, George, and Bobby and her brother Richard. And a grandson she never met, Mitchell Lawson. Those left behind who will miss her dearly are her husband Daryl Lee Rude, her brother Alvin, Step-sister Barb Baity, her “favorite daughter” Donna Mae (Rex) Lawson “cookie man” her “favorite son” Daniel Scott (Demita) Anderson,  grandchildren, Nicholas (Jamie) Christenson, Benjamin (Shauna) Christenson, Samuel (Kaitlyn) Christenson, Molly (Joshua) Curry, Angela (Justin) Harmening, Melissa Lawson,  Xis (Meda) Universe, Delaney (Todd) Bell, Amanda (Jason) Gosset, Ray (Ashley) Anderson, Ryan Anderson, Samantha Cagle, Michael and Eli Anderson,  (And 70 others whom Daniel and Demita shared their home with over the years.)  nephew, Rick (Erin) Newport, niece Shannon (Adam) Coffee, and 30 great grandchildren. 
 
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