Mary Ellen Svihel - 82
Foley
August 7, 1931-December 24, 2013
Mary Ellen Svihel, age 82, of Foley, died peacefully with her family at her side at her daughters home in Papillion, NE on December 24, 2013.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, December 30, 2013 at St. John's Catholic Church, Foley. The Rev. Daniel Walz will officiate. Burial will be in the Parish Cemetery.
Friends may call from 4 to 8 Sunday at the Foley Funeral Home in Foley and after 9 AM Monday at the funeral home. Parish Prayers will be 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening. Arrangements were made  by the Foley Funeral Home.
Mary Ellen Svihel was born August 7, 1931 in Mayhew Lake, MN to Leo and Theresa (Fleegle) Miller.  Mary was the 5th of 15 children and remembered her childhood as very joyous.  She played piano and guitar and sang in the church choir.  She especially enjoyed picking strawberries with her sisters.  She attended grade school and middle school in the country school now owned by her daughter Julie.  At age 16 she worked for Mrs. John Hall as a hostess and was paid $12 a week, room and board.  Mary met the love of her life, Emil at choir practice.  They were married on June 12, 1950 at St. John's Catholic Church.  To this holy union, 7 children were born.  Mary and Emil lived on the farm where Emil grew up until his death in 2008.  The couple was married for 58 years.  Mary loved being a wife and a mother.  Sewing was her favorite pastime.  Her children always had home made flannel Xmas pajamas and matching Easter dresses.  Mary's children remember their mother as a gentle, holy woman.  She offered her suffering up to God as her courageous battle with pancreatic cancer lasted 1 1/2 years.  All  memorials will be sent to the Alegent Creighton Health at Home Hospice Care, Nebraska.
She is survived by her sons and daughters; Anna Marie (Ron) Jamison, Papillion, NE; Mike (LeeAnn), Oak Park; Gary (Susie), Foley; Marion (Bob) Lentner, Rice; Sheila (Tom) Hendricks, Alexandria and Julie (Dick) Winkelman of Foley, 20 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, brothers and sisters, Lorraine DuMonceaux, Theresa Carlson, Eugene Miller, Louise Sutton, Dorothy Gammon, Rosella Lane, Joe Miller, Joanne Wiese and Bernice Schultz.
She was preceded in  death by her parents and husband, Emil, infant daughter, Angela and sister and brothers, Caroline Henry, Elmer, Arnold, Leo Jr., and Willie.

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