MOUNT HOREB - Thank you for sharing the warmth of your fire.

My 77 years were blessed with loving family and friends. They gave their warmth without hesitation. And, I enjoyed returning the favor.

Ovarian cancer took me at the end on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Thanks to wonderful caregivers I had two extra years to hug, kiss and enjoy dessert. Please get regular cervical cancer checkups. Watch for these symptoms - abdominal swelling and pain, fatigue, weight loss and constipation. Insist on a cancer test. It’s important to find out early.

My all-Irish mother, Eileen Fitzpatrick Leinbaugh, brought me into the world on Nov. 16, 1944, in Holstein, Iowa. My Danish-German father, Wyman, was on a World War ll battlefield in France at the time. My middle name was a combination of their first names.

Teachers at Holstein Public Schools and Stewart’s School of Hair Styling in Sioux City, Iowa, gave me an education. Growing up, I read every Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie mystery. I envied movie stars Ginger Rogers and Cyd Charisse for dancing backwards in high heels.

I danced all night with my future husband at our high school senior prom in 1962. We married six years later in the Panama Canal Zone where he was stationed in the U.S. Army. After returning home, we moved to Wisconsin. We found jobs, friends, Cold Duck, cheese and Badgers hockey.

I aimed to put a smile on someone’s face every day - at the soda fountain, beauty salons and greeting card-gift shops where I worked. I raised a family, helped a young couple with three children, cared for the elderly and invited Betty Crocker over when I baked chocolate cake.

I leave behind my husband, Bryan; son, Mathew; daughter-in-law, Julie; granddaughter, Brooklyn; brothers, Robert (Pam) and Dennis (Gail) Leinbaugh; sister, Claire Thompson; in-laws, Nancy and Mark Brosamle; nieces, Amy (Brad) Murray, Jessica Leinbaugh and Lacey (Jason) Leinbaugh; several cousins and dear friends. I loved you all.

My parents and in-laws, Madonna and Richard Brosamle, preceded me in death.

Family will hold a private farewell.

If you wish to share more of your warmth, please consider a donation to the UW Carbone Cancer Center (cancer.wisc.edu) or Agrace HospiceCare (agrace.org). Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Mount Horeb

Funeral & Cremation Care

500 N. Eighth St.

(608) 437-5077

Mary Wyleen Brosamle

November 16, 1944 - September 28, 2022

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