Mary Dalton

DALTON
Mary Ann
Age 88, of Stillwater
Departed this life peacefully surrounded by family on January 12, 2018. Preceded in death by her husband John and first-born son, Gregory. MaryAnn was the loving mother of, Deb (Dan) Bohn, Sue (Mark) Longworth, Myke Dalton, Gina (Dave) Nelson and Barb Dalton; loving grandmother of Greg Dalton, Jr. Also survived by brother, Don (Sharon) Hossalla; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.


Life History
MaryAnn Hossalla was born on July 22, 1929, in Browerville, Minnesota. She was one of eight children born to John and Mary Hossalla. Part of her youth was spent on the family farm and when she was a teenager, her parents moved the whole family to St. Paul.

Mom lived at home helping her parents raise her younger siblings and tending to her grandmother who also lived with the family. Mom was the middle child and since she had lots of siblings, she grew up with many interests. She loved to ride motorcycles, traveling, spending time outdoors, meeting new people, laughing, and learning new things.

Though mom never went to high school, she was what most would call "street smart". When she was old enough to work, she started waitressing at a restaurant downtown St. Paul by the name of Lee's Diner. One of the cooks at the restaurant named Millie, became a good friend. To mom's delight Millie had a handsome son, Jack. Mom was smitten with the handsome Marine and fell head of over heels in love.

Their romance was fast tracked and they were married on dad's birthday, June 4, 1951. Off to California mom went with her new husband. Dad had to live near the Marine base, so they rented a small apartment and set up housekeeping. Dad flew over 45 missions in Korea and WWII. His plane was shot down once and he had to bail out because of non-functioning live arms release gear. Luckily, he was plucked out of the ocean quickly and escaped with only scrapes and bruises both times.

Dad probably would have stayed in the service and been a career pilot for the Marines, but mom did not like the uncertainty and anxiety she would experience when he was gone. She feared becoming a widow like so many other young brides at that time. After his stint in the Marines, dad decided to take his honorable discharge and find another career that was closer to home and hopefully less dangerous.

Dad and mom returned to Minnesota and dad soon started a career as a St. Paul firefighter. This was a life-long career for dad, but no less dangerous. Knowing that dad had sacrificed his military career, mom was grateful to be home and have the support of her family, but she still worried about him fighting fires. In 1952, they welcomed their first-born son Gregory, who was followed by Deborah, Susan, Myke, and the youngest Gina, "the baby" who was born in 1960.

Five kids kept mom hopping and she worked diligently to make sure we had everything we needed. Like so many other women at that time, she did housework, laundry, cleaning and tried new recipes and cooking skills she acquired from her mother-in-law, Millie. She was a great mom, not a very good disciplinarian; that duty was relegated to dad. Every evening mom and dad made sure we sat down as a family for dinner and discussed the day's events.

Once we were old enough, mom decided to go back to work. She was ready to be with adults again, having stayed home with us for many years. She has always been most happy when surrounded by lots of people and in on the conversation. We kids could not provide that outlet for her. So, she went back to work waitressing at the former Parker House Restaurant in Mendota.

As a family, we travelled all over the United States on longer than normal vacations. We would head out for a month during the summer and visited some awesome places like New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Yellowstone, and Glacier. For lodging we had a 21 foot Winnebago trailer that, although tight quarters, was great fun!

After we were all grown and doing our own thing, mom and dad bought land up near Fifty Lakes, Minnesota, on Wood Lake. The plan was to build their retirement home.
Mom and dad continued to plan their retirement and worked steadily to building their future "at the lake".

Dad's career was cut short when he developed a debilitating heart issues. He experienced three heart attacks and was forced to retire, taking disability from the fire department. This was a change in roles since mom was still working, but dad helped around the house as much as he could. He cooked meals, shopped, continued to repair items that needed it and was able to often slip away and spend time up north. Because he could not work, he would often spend weeks at a time up north working on their retirement project. Mom would go when she could.

We (kids) continued to live our lives and, over a period of about fifteen years, Greg married Barb, Debbie married Dan, Sue married Mark, Myke married Tammy, and Gina married Dave. The only grandchild mom and dad were gifted from all those unions was Greg and Barb's son Greg Jr. As for the rest of us, although childless, we focused on careers and found other ways to fill our lives.


Sadly, mom and dad's dream of retirement never came true. At a mere 55 years old, dad died from lung cancer on December 9, 1978. That year Christmas was really hard, Mom was lost not only then but for quite some time after. It was at this time she felt that living in the house was too much work for her. She decided to buy a townhouse and moved to West St. Paul. It took quite a while, but finally that smile that lit up the room, came back.

Other women may have sold the lake property and just stayed in town upon retirement, but not mom. She was a very strong-willed woman. She so anticipated and looked forward to her life "up at the lake", when she turned 62, she retired, sold the townhouse and moved up to Fifty Lakes, MN. She lived alone, well if you count two cats and a dog, alone.

Mom kept busy volunteering at the local food shelf, and working the popular weekly meat raffle at the Fifty Lakes Muni. She had many friends and spent time out and about whenever she could. She lived for many years up in Fifty Lakes and that lake home became not only her respite, but ours as well. Greg and Barb loved the area so much that they eventually moved up to Emily, MN, 20 minutes west of mom. It was comforting to know that family was now closer to her than the cities.

Mom lived up north for many years until she started to experience heart issues. At that time, the doctoring she was doing was inadequate for the health issues she was experiencing. We (kids) felt moving her back to the cities was necessary, so we had a couple of estate/garage sales in an attempt to reduce the 40+ years of stuff she had acquired.

Mom sold the lake home and moved back to the cities. She re-located to Stillwater near Gina and Dave. She had always had a special relationship with them so it made sense for her to be close to them. She rented a small townhouse and she loved it.

At about 77 years old she suffered a debilitating stroke that left her mostly paralyzed on her right side. She rehabbed for about 4-6 months and moved into assisted living for another year. The stroke had caused mom to lose a lot of her independence, something she fiercely loved. She struggled to gain as much back as she could and after about a year was able to move into an apartment in the same complex as her assisted living. It was a retirement community called Croixdale, located in Bayport just down the road from Stillwater.

After about three years living at Croixdale, Gina and Dave asked her to move into their home. She lived with them for about four years and enjoyed the beautiful nature surroundings as well as the comfort, excellent food and conversation. While mom lived with Gina and Dave she experienced a couple of relapses with heart failure, but she was always able to doctor herself so she could remain living there.


During one of the heart failures she was experiencing, a couple of us asked why she didn't have a pacemaker. We found out that she had been counseled some years earlier when the heart issues started to worsen, to have a pacemaker installed. She declined because she felt uneasy about it, we convinced her to change her mind. Once the pacemaker was installed, it seemed like that gave her heart the boost it needed and she felt, looked and moved around much easier for a while.

On January 9, 2014, 36 years to the day that dad died, we lost Greg. Heart issues seemed to plague our family and Greg could not escape its grasp. He required a dangerous surgery in the cities and was admitted to Abbott Northwestern Heart Institute. Greg fought hard for many weeks but never recovered from the surgery. The hospital released him and he returned home to convalesce, but his heart never regained the strength it needed to go on. This loss was very hard for Greg's wife Barb, mom and the rest of the family.

Anyone that knows about heart issues knows that at some point the heart cannot provide the strength to do what needs to be done and mom's heart was no different. Just as her loved ones before her, her heart deteriorated to the point that early last spring she started to quickly deteriorate and experienced bouts in and out of the hospital and in and out of rehab at Good Samaritan Home in Stillwater.

Eventually she had to be moved to the Good Samaritan Home so that she could be taken care of properly. The last six months of her life were very difficult for her but she kept on smiling and treating those around her with grace and dignity. My mother lived a good life for most of her eighty-eight years. She was a strong-willed compassionate caring woman. On Friday, January 12, 2018, she joined those who went before her, especially her husband, Jack, and first-born son Gregory.


Memorial service Friday, February 2, 2018, 6:00 P.M. at BRADSHAW CELEBRATION OF LIFE CENTER, 2800 Curve Crest Boulevard, Stillwater with a gathering of family and friends two hours prior to the service. There will be a gathering after the service at the Lowell Inn, Garden Room, 102 North Second St., Stillwater, Minnesota, 55082 651-439-1100.