Mary Jane Blethen

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Blethen, Mary Jane Mary Jane Blethen, known by family and friends as "MJ," completed her difficult journey with Alzheimer's in her trademark style of grace and poise, on October 1st, 2014, at Keystone Willows memory Care in Mankato. A celebration of her life will be held at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Mankato on Friday, October 24 at 11:00 a.m. Visitation will be Thursday, October 23 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Northview ~ North Mankato Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Alz-heimers Association, Echo Food Shelf, The Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota, or the charity of the donor's choice. Mary Jane was born October 18, 1937, to Florence (Olson) and "Rollie" Freudenthal in Minneapolis, MN. When she was quite young, the family moved from the city to Edina. She became fascinated with figure skating and took the street car to St. Paul for skating lessons and performances at the St. Paul Figure Skating Club. She was a soloist in several shows known as the "St. Paul Summer Pops" and for the Brown & Bigelow Anniversary extravaganza. Immediately after graduating from Edina High School in 1955, she joined the Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies, and traveled the United States by train earning money for college. Her father required her to visit a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church wherever the show stopped and even told each pastor when to expect her. She paid for her college by spending her summers skating for a "tank" show, Adventures on Ice, that performed at State and County Fairs throughout the Midwest. Following her Ice Follies career, she returned home to attend the University of Minnesota. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority where she lived when a young law student, representing an auto insurance carrier interviewed her concerning a minor automobile accident. Bailey Blethen insisted more appointments were necessary to finish the insurance business. They were engaged six months later and married on December 20, 1960. Mary Jane taught 2nd grade in Richfield. MN while Bailey completed law school at the University of Minnesota. With their baby Wendy, they moved to Mankato MN in July of 1963. Their son, Bill, arrived in March of 1965. When she learned that Mankato had no nursery/preschool for her two small children, she acquired a business loan from the bank and started Peter Pan nursery school, which she owned from 1965-1970. During that time she completed her master's degree in early childhood education. She was involved in the establishment of the first ice skating arena in Mankato, "The Mankato Ice Palace." She created the Mankato Figure Skating Club in 1978, which was sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association. With a nucleus of dedicated parents and enthusiastic, talented skaters they developed progressively as competitive figure skaters and the first official show, "Show Time at the Ice Palace," was a huge success. In 1972 she was elected to the Mankato Public School District #77 school board and served until 1976, when the family moved briefly to White Bear Lake. She supervised and instructed teachers and aides in the Minnesota Valley Head Start program, until she was selected to establish one of the first employer-sponsored child care centers for the employees of Carlson Craft. She organized the program and served as director "Golden Heart Day Care Center" from 1980-1983. For her next venture, she was recruited by Carl Lofy to assist in the design and implementation of the Wellness Center in Southern Minnesota, the first in the region, which she directed from 1983-1987. Her final career was as the Administrator and Director of Old Main Village, which was the first senior living facility in the Mankato area. For her significant contributions to the Mankato Community, she received one of the YWCA Women of Distinction awards in 1980. Mary Jane is survived by her husband of 53 years, Bailey Blethen, her children, Wendy Helgeson of Minneapolis, MN, Bill Blethen (Sandy) of Mt Prospect, IL; sister Karri Hansen (Eric) of Edina, MN; brother-in-law, Peter Blethen (Nancy) of Madison Lake, MN; sister-in-law, Stephanie Freudenthal of Edina, MN; grandchildren Bailey Blethen, Jeff Blethen, Alex Blethen, all of Mt. Prospect, IL, and Tess Helgeson of Minneapolis, MN; many nieces, nephews, cousins and her special "birthday group" of friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, and her brother, John Freudenthal.

Published on October 5, 2014