Loretta Mary Gengler, 85, Adrian, died Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, at the Adrian Care Center.
A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, at St. Adrian Catholic Church in Adrian. Burial will be at the St. Adrian Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, at Dingmann Funeral Home in Adrian and from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. at the funeral home on Saturday.
Loretta Higgins was born Aug. 7, 1930, to Francis and Rose (Timmerman) Higgins in Brocksburg, Nebraska. She attended country school before graduating from St. Mary Boarding School in O’Neil, Nebraska. Loretta graduated from the McKennan School of Nursing and went on to become a surgical nurse at the McKennan Hospital. She later worked in Texas at a polio sanitarium.
On Feb. 4, 1954, she married Paul C. Gengler at Little Flower Catholic Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After their marriage the couple farmed near Iona. In 1962 they moved to a farm north of Adrian. They retired and moved to Adrian in 1991.
She was a member of St. Adrian Catholic Church, the WCCW, Catholic Daughters, Arnold Memorial Hospital Pink Ladies and also volunteered for Meals on Wheels. She enjoyed quilting, canning, gardening, crafts and making wine.
Loretta is survived by two sons, Brian (Joyce) Gengler, Adrian, and Lyle (Judy) Gengler, Caribou, Maine; six grandchildren, Aleta (Craig) Vander Beek, Emily Hutchinson, Rev. Sarah Gengler, Maria (Matt) Nulle, Kevin (Jenny) Gengler, and Allen (Becky) Gengler; two stepgrandchildren, Amy (Paul) Ouellette and Ann (Matthew) Ellis; 12 great-grandchildren, a sister, Delores Schock, Bloomfield, Nebraska; a sister-in-law, Benetta (Roger) Roth, Spencer, Nebraska, three brothers-in-law, Gordon Gengler and Jack (Gisella) Gengler, all of Sioux Falls, and William Murphy, Salem, Virginia; two sisters-in-law, Marie Schneider, Worthington, and Marcella Gengler, Luverne; and many other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Paul Gengler, on March 10, 1999; a daughter, Gail Gengler, on Oct. 7, 1980; a brother, Patrick Higgins; three brothers-in-law; two sisters-in-law and three nephews.
Memorials may be directed to Compassionate Care Hospice of Worthington.
Arrangements were by Dingmann Funeral Home of Adrian, www.dingmannandsons.com.
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