Mary Lou JoHantgen, 88 years, of West Unity, passed away Sunday, December 29, 2013 at Evergreen Manor Nursing Home, Montpelier, where she was a resident. Mary was born October 28, 1925 on the Beatty farm east of West Unity, the daughter of the late George Glenn and Nettie Mae (Kring) Beatty. She was a 1943 graduate of West Unity High School and worked as a typist for the former Willis-Overland in Toledo during WWII. She married Maynard JoHantgen in 1945. In later years, Mary worked in the offices of Dr. Raymond Burrowes and Bly Insurance Agency in West Unity, and as an area leader for Ohio Green Thumb. Mary worked at the Montpelier Senior Center for 14 years, retiring in 2003. She was a very knowledgeable antique collector, refinished furniture and did chair caning as well as running her own antique shop for several years. She was a member of the West Unity United Methodist Church.
Surviving are her four children, Susan (Jack) Knost of Charlotte, North Carolina, David (Andrea) JoHantgen of West Unity, Rodney JoHantgen of Waldron, Michigan and Peter JoHantgen of Delaware, Ohio; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; one sister, Margaret Opicka of Dayton, Ohio; one brother, George Beatty of West Unity. She was preceded in death by her parents, her stepmother, Mae Beatty, one son, John Craig JoHantgen and one sister, Dorothy Beatty Miller.
Relatives and friends will be received in the Oberlin-Turnbull Funeral Home, 202 North Liberty Street, West Unity, Ohio, from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. Thursday, January 2, 2014. Funeral services for May JoHantgen will begin at 11:00 a.m. Friday, January 3, 2014 in the funeral home with Pastor Julia Ronngren officiating. Interment will follow in Floral Grove Cemetery, West Unity.
Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider memorial contributions to the maintenance and upkeep of the historic German Methodist Episcopal Church in Floral Grove Cemetery.