Mary Lou Farness

Mary Lou Riddle Farness was born on June 1, 1933, and passed away in Lemon Grove, California on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. Mary Lou was raised in Waubay and Webster, South Dakota where she attended Webster High School and met her future husband, Leonard Farness. The young couple married and moved to Alaska while Leonard finished his obligation in the United States Army. In 1955, they loaded a U-Haul trailer and their two young children and moved to California.

Mary Lou and Leonard worked in, and then co-owned, Len’s of Lemon Grove Shoe Store for over 30 years. Mary Lou was an active member of Lemon Grove United Methodist Church and Lemon Grove Soroptimist. She loved traveling, camping, painting, sewing, gardening, and her children and grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard (1931-1983), her in-law siblings, Lorayne and Tom Breske, Glenn Farness, and Vernon Eszlinger.

Mary Lou leaves the legacy of her four daughters and their husbands, Peggy Farness and John Gilbert, Nancy and Tom Johnson of San Diego; Cynthia and Craig Maclean of Napa, California; and Julie and Kurt Needham of Yankton, South Dakota; seven grandchildren (Noah, Luke, and Jesse Johnson; Kyle and Hannah Needham; Leyna Needham Hoebelheinrich; Lindsay Maclean); and eleven great-grandchildren.

Mary Lou is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Anna May and Glen Carlis of Webster South Dakota, her brothers and sisters-in-law, Jesse and Joyce Riddle and Robert and Carole Riddle of Rapid City, South Dakota, and Richard and Marian Riddle of Watertown, South Dakota. In addition, she is survived by her Farness sister- and brother-in-laws, Mavis and Howard Humphrey, Dennis and Ilse Farness, and Shirley Eszlinger, as well as many nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews.

Mary Lou lived in Rapid City, South Dakota with her second husband, Dean Malloy for 25 years. She enjoyed the four Malloy children (Monty, Russell, Lisa, and Mindy) and their spouses and children. She spent her last five years in San Diego, loving her children and grandchildren, and reacquainting with long-time family and friends.

Services will be held on Monday, May 13, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. at The Little Chapel of the Roses at Glen Abbey Memorial Park, 3838 Bonita Road, Bonita, California, 91902. A reception will follow the burial in The Little Lodge also at Glen Abbey Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, please send your remembrances to one of the following organizations:

• Webster Alumni Association for high school scholarships, Webster, South Dakota.

• Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Waubay, South Dakota to pay for the installation of an antique stained glass window, first donated by Mary Lou’s grandparents, Jesse and Louise Riddle in the early 1900s.

(You may send South Dakota donations to Mary Lou’s sister, Anna May Carlis, 608 W. 7th Street, Webster, South Dakota 57274.)

• Hoover High School Academy of Literature, Media & Art in memory of the music and art contributions of both Leonard and Mary Lou. (Send to Hoover High School, 4474 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92115, Attn: Michael Heu or Nancy Johnson.)

**If you prefer to send flowers, please send them to Conrad Lemon Grove Mortuary, 7387 Broadway, Lemon Grove, California 91945.

Mary Lou was much loved and will be deeply missed.

If you come to the services on Monday, May 13, 2013, wear purple . . .

If you don’t come, wear purple anyway 

Purple Wild Flowers and a Silver Lining

My mother’s casket

is shiny silver aluminum

with friendly taffeta lining

to embrace her

in the darkness.

She’ll wear her purple suit

with the purple taffeta facing

and her silver white hair

will lie against

the silver quilting.

Her daughters will wear

purple too,

and throw purple wild flowers

with white calla lilies and silver lace

into her open grave.

Her husband, 30 years dead

will sing “How Great Thou Art”

from a silver DVD,

and then his bones will

lie beneath her.

A silver lining lies beneath

every moment of darkness,

when souls rise up

amidst their purple auras,

kissed by the silver clouds

of heaven.

Nancy Farness Johnson

February 27, 2013