She was born on September 6, 1943 in Benson, a small town in central Minnesota.  Mary was the second of four children to Chester and Bernice Lang.  The family eventually moved to Murdock and settled into their lifelong home where she grew up with her older brother Jim and younger siblings Bob and Anne.  The kids all enjoyed the excitement of working in their father's grocery store in town.  One of the many benefits was all the free candy they wanted!

Following graduation from Murdock High School in 1961, Mary moved to the "big city", Minneapolis, and started working for JC Penney.  In the summer of 1962, one of Mary's roommates set her up on a blind date.  This was the date that would change her life forever and she would meet her future husband, Jerry Koltes.  They went with a group of friends to the drive-in.

Mary and Jerry were married on May 11 ^th , 1963 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Murdock.  They celebrated their marriage with their families and friends. Eventually they moved to Coon Rapids to start their family.  They had three children:  Tim, Tom and Theresa.  As the family grew, they decided to move to a bigger house in Andover.  They planted their roots and watched their children grow.

Mary spent many years working as a bookkeeper at Gateway, a grocery distributor in Fridley. She met many of her best friends here and remained close with them over the years.  Ironically, this also happened to be one of the grocery distributors that delivered to her father's grocery store in Murdock.  Small world, huh?

Mary loved to travel.  Over the years she enjoyed many trips with Jerry, family and friends to California, Gatlinburg, TN Telemark Lodge in Cable, WI, the casino in Hinckley, Las Vegas, Florida, Hawaii, Mexico and even Europe.  She was always excited for a new adventure.

Mary's family grew when she became a grandmother and she was blessed with eight beautiful grandchildren.  She loved watching them play sports, going shopping and out to eat, enjoyed their school and church programs and celebrated their accomplishments from both near and far including artwork, competitions and projects they were working on.  She loved them all and was very proud of her family.

Special things about Mary that many of you may or may not know:

· She was a HUGE fan of Neil Diamond and would often put in a CD and turn it up so loud that the house would shake.

· She enjoyed going to the theater and seeing a musical or a play on stage.  In most cases, she would come home with the CD from the show!

· She often stayed up late on Friday and Saturday nights watching two of her favorite movies: The Gathering with Ed Asner and Fiddler on the Roof .  She watched these two movies         over and over!

· She loved watching her MN sports teams - the Vikings, Twins, North Stars and of course any of her grandchildren's teams!

· She collected Santa Bears and had nearly every one of them issued.  They made their appearance every Christmas and filled the couches.

· Ironing.  Weird, but true.  She would spend time ironing virtually anything and everything with a wrinkle (even if it didn't have a wrinkle).

Mary is survived by her loving husband Jerome of 54 years; her three children: Tim (Dianne), Tom (Adair) and Theresa (Peter) Muth.  Her grandchildren Cheyne, Meagan, Amanda, DJ, Ryan, Noah, Rebecca and Cody.  Her sister Anne (Chuck) Gorres.  And many other loving family and friends.

It's time to say goodbye to Mary for now - She touched the lives of so many and will be dearly missed.

A visitation will be held Wednesday , from 5-8 PM at Thurston-DeShaw Funeral Home, 13817 Jay St. NW, Andover. Mass of Christian Burial will be Thursday at 10:30 AM with a visitation one hour prior at The Church of the Epiphany, 1900 111th Ave. NW, Coon Rapids, interment at Morningside Memorial Gardens in Coon Rapids. In lieu of flowers memorials preferred.