Frances Mahal - Wabasso

Mass of Christian Burial for Frances Mahal, age 85, will be held at 10:30a.m. on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Wabasso. Visitation will be held from 5-8p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2015 and one hour prior to Mass at church on Saturday. A public prayer service will be held Friday evening at church at 7p.m. with a rosary to follow. Interment to follow at St. Anne’s Catholic Cemetery in Wabasso. Online condolences can be made at www.sunsetfuneralassociation.com. The Sunset Funeral Association is caring for the family. Frances A. Mahal, formerly of Wabasso, passed away peacefully with her family at her side on Saturday, April 4, 2015 at the Wealshire of Bloomington. Frances Alberta (VanderHeyden) Mahal was born on March 22, 1930 to John and Catherine (Kertzman) VanderHeyden. She graduated from Onamia High School in 1948. She attended St. Cloud State Teacher’s College and became an elementary teacher. Frances taught in Kimball and Wabasso where she met her future husband, George Mahal. They were married on June 18, 1955 at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Onamia, MN in a double wedding with her sister, Margaret. Frances was very active as a 4-H leader, EMT volunteer, Red Cross volunteer, Senior Citizen volunteer, and a member of the CCW and St. Monica Society. Her Catholic faith was very important to her as she served as a Eucharistic minister, usher, religious educator and sacristan at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Wabasso. Frances always made a point of visiting the sick and the homebound. Frances enjoyed trips to Rome and the Holy Land after she retired from teaching in 1995. In 2002, she received the New Ulm Diocese Bishop Award and the Redwood County Outstanding Senior Citizen. In 2006, Frances was awarded the Redwood County Fair Person of the Year. Frances was a superintendent in the Hobbies and Craft Department for 20 years at the Redwood County Fair. Frances love for gardening qualified her as a 4-H judge in the Horticulture Dept. for a number of counties in Minnesota. Frances is survived by her children, Margie (Jim) Buckley, Diane Hemker, Sandy (Rodney) Kreitzman, Mike (Pam) Mahal, and Jill (George) Mahal-Lichty; 14 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; 2 brothers and 8 sisters; and many nieces, nephews, other family and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband, George; son-in-law’s, Jim DePauw and Steve Hemker; parents, John and Catherine; and infant brother, Alfred VanderHeyden. A special thank you to the caring staff of the Wealshire of Bloomington, the hospice staff of Park Nicollet, and her Nurse Practitioner of Consultative Health and Medicine.