Mary McEneaney
Mary Elizabeth Greufe McEneaney, 97, was born on Nov. 26, 1922, to John Peter Greufe and Julia Lucy (Koch) Greufe in Germantown, Mo. She was the fourth of eight children with six brothers and one sister.
The family moved to Montana in 1925, where she grew up on her grandparents’ homestead near Lustre. She attended Lustre school where she was advanced to skip third grade and her favorite subject was arithmetic. She started high school in Wolf Point, living with an aunt and uncle in town during the school year. When she was 17, Mary stayed home from high school for a year to care for her sick mother and then help care for her younger siblings after her mother died. She was able to return to Wolf Point High School the following fall and graduated with the class of 1942.
Mary was a quietly strong German woman, devoted to God, her Catholic faith, church and family.
She married James Patrick McEneaney on Nov. 17, 1951, at Immaculate Conception Church in Wolf Point. They had sons Michael and John and daughter Cathleen 11 months apart in 1952, ’53 and ’54 and a third son, Stephen, two years later in 1956.
Jim pursued employment, often seasonal, in the Northwest and Alaska while Mary stayed in Wolf Point working several jobs before settling in at JC Penney, where she worked for 32 years as a bookkeeper. She retired in April 1985 and moved to Billings in 1987 to be closer to her daughter Cathleen, her son John, and grandchildren. She kept busy with gardening, volunteering at the St. Vincent Hospital gift shop for 25 years, supporting Holy Rosary and St Pius parishes, and following the lives and activities of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She kept her own household until age 94 before moving to her daughter and son-in-law’s home in October 2017, where she resided until her death on Sept. 19, 2020.
Mary is survived by her children, Mike McEneaney of Sioux Falls, S.D., John McEneaney of Phillipsburg and Cathleen Lynch of Billings; six grandchildren, Ryan, Sean and Megan McEneaney, Keriann Strickland, Joshua Lynch and Katelynn Schabauer; and two great-grandchildren, Keagan and Zoey McEneaney. She is also survived by her sister, Leona Braton; her sisters-in-law, Myrna Greufe and Mary Pat McEneaney Huewe; and several nieces and nephews.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, James; her brothers, Ralph, Wilfred, George, Kenneth, Bernard and Harry; and her beloved son, Stephen.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Billings. Condolences may be made at www. michelottisawyers.com.
(Paid Obituary)
