Mary Louise Juneau

Mary Louise Juneau passed away peacefully on March 9th, 2023, her 80th birthday, with her husband, son, and granddaughter Gigi by her side. Mary was recovering from knee surgery in late December at their Florida home in Bonita Springs when she suffered a series of small undetected strokes. After several weeks of hospital recovery and rehab, she returned home briefly but soon developed additional complications which sent her back to hospital where she fought bravely against Covid, pneumonia, and other conditions for several weeks before God took her into his loving arms to be with him.

Mary was the first child born to Melvin and Alice Funk on March 9th, 1943, in Baltimore, MD where Mel served in the Coast Guard and Alice was a nurse. The family lived in Florida for a short time but spent most of her childhood years living in Wausau, WI along with her brother Larry where several generations of our families reside. Mary met Mike during high school where they became sweethearts and eventually married during college. Mary attended UW-Whitewater as a Business Education major before leaving to join Mike at UW-Madison. After college they moved to Milwaukee to raise a family, eventually settling in Wauwatosa with their four children.

Mary was a gifted caregiver and homemaker, and as her children grew older, she sought out ways to share her gifts as an active church member, committee member, and eventually foster mother to 20 (or so) newborn infants and toddlers awaiting adoption. Samantha Jean was the first newborn foster child Mary cared for with serious medical conditions and they soon developed a loving bond beyond which most of us ever know. With God’s grace, and Mary’s endless love, care, and devotion (and that of our family and so many wonderful nurses and caregivers) Samantha has persevered through the many many challenges of her life and graciously continues to illuminate our lives with purity of heart, a joyful spirit, and the love she learned from Mary.

Mary is lovingly survived by her husband of 58 years, Michael; her brother, Larry (Janet) Funk (MT); four children: Melinda (Richard) Reeth (FL), Nicole, David (comp. Marianne Allegra), and Samantha; seven grandchildren: Richard, Julie, and Lindsay (Reeth); Genevieve, Josephine, and Giselle (Senger); and Samantha (Torres/Allegra); great-grandchild, Crew (Ayers/Torres); and her sister-in-Christ, Joanne Knox. She was preceded in passing by her beloved nephew, Timothy Funk (42).

Visitation at at Krause Funeral Home, 12401 National Avenue, New Berlin, Wisconsin on Thursday April 20th, from 10:30 AM – 12:15 PM. Funeral Service at 12:30 PM.

In lieu of flowers, we ask for memorials to be sent to the following organization to support activities and engagement for children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities.

– Adaptive Community Approach Program (ACAP) of Waukesha, https://www.acap-waukesha.org/.