Mary S. Garber died on February 11, 2014 after many years of existing with Alzheimer’s disease. Her dignity restored in her passing.

She was raised in Unionville, Pennsylvania by Faye and Walter Zahniser, attending Bellefonte High School. In 1950 she moved to Pittsburgh to attend Presbyterian Nursing School and it was here she met her future husband, George Garber. They married in 1954, moving to Massachusetts, West Virginia and eventually Minnesota as he continued his training to become a General Surgeon. They made their permanent home in Winona, Minnesota. They divorced in 1978.

Sue spent almost 35 years with her partner, Joe Fleischman. Together they eventually made their home in downtown Minneapolis. He remained her devoted love until the day she died.

She went by many names in her life and each signified a different stage. Suzanne was the teenager, Sue the wife and mother, Mary the college student, back to Sue as the career woman, and Mary Sue a woman with memory lost to Alzheimer’s.

Sue was a non-traditional student before the term had been coined. She went back to Winona State in 1972 at age 40 to get her B.S. in nursing. She graduated in 1977 the same year as her middle daughter graduated high school. Immediately, she became the school nurse at St. Mary’s College in Winona but wanted more education. She decided to try to obtain a new certification called a nurse practitioner. She went for a summer to BYU for education and then trained under a trusted physician in Winona until she was ready for her boards. She was very nervous about taking her boards but of course passed with flying colors the first time she took the tests. In her 20-year nursing career she worked at St. Mary’s College, Carleton College and Face-to-Face Community Clinic in St. Paul, MN.

She lived a life of giving to others. It began with her children, then with her nursing, and finally in her retirement volunteering with Habitat for Habitat, Meals on Wheels, and the church food pantry.

She is preceded in death by her mother and father, her former spouse George Garber, and sister Janie Shelby. She is survived by her children, Scott Garber, Austin, TX, Gretchen Benjamin, La Crosse, WI, and Elizabeth Engler, Westminster, CO and sister, Sally Conaway, Hiawassee GA. She has six grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be planned for her in Winona, MN likely on her birthday, May 12, 2014. More information will be provided at a later date. If you would like to memorialize Mary S. Garber, please send contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Nursing Scholarship fund at Winona State University, Winona MN 55987.