Mary Linda Mack of Wall Lake passed away on Monday, May 13 at Twilight Acres Nursing Home. Her final days were spent surrounded by her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mary Linda Metz was born September 3, 1943 to Carl and Florence “Irene” (Lyman) Metz in Cherokee, Iowa. She spent her entire childhood growing up in Sutherland, Iowa with her parents and 3 siblings; Sharon (McCreath), Dianne (Wohlert) and Richard Metz. Mary Linda attended school in Sutherland and graduated with the class of 1961. During her high school career she enjoyed singing, speech and class plays. She was a member of a girls sextet, girls trio, mixed octet, mixed chorus, pep club, annual staff, the girls glee and was offered a music scholarship at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, which she declined.
After graduating high school Mary Linda attended State College of Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa majoring in English and speech therapy. While attending college her friends shortened her name to “Marty”, although it didn’t stick, she had fond memories of those times. After school she found employment as a librarian at Gen. N. B. Baker Library in Sutherland and also as a bookkeeper at Cherokee State Bank. She completed a home study course on Interior Design from the nationally accredited LaSalle School in Chicago.
On August 22, 1965 she married Delbert Elkin in a ceremony at the United Methodist Church in Sutherland, Iowa. They welcomed a daughter, Mary Beth, before parting ways in 1973.
On October 6, 1974 Mary Linda was united in marriage to Stephen Mack at Peace Lutheran Church in Wall Lake. To this union two sons were born, Christopher Joseph and Jonathan Andrew.
For over 50 years she had her hands in the newsprint business. Starting off her career in advertising sales at the Newell Mirror, she found a love that held a tight grip on her heart. She excelled at sales and creating ad designs for customers. As new opportunities opened she moved on to other positions including editor of the Early News, advertising sales for the Lake View Resort, Wall Lake Blade, Breda News, Wall Lake Chronicle and The Chronicle - Early, Odebolt and Wall Lake. She became the editor of the Breda News and The Wall Lake Chronicle working both positions simultaneously. A few years later the Breda News was sold and she remained the editor of The Wall Lake Chronicle. As the area newspapers merged becoming The Chronicle - Early, Odebolt and Wall Lake, Mary Linda continued as Wall Lake editor and then finally taking over as senior editor over all three communities until her retirement in the fall of 2022.
At one point while working at the Lake View Resort she also worked at the Bronco Rail clothing store in Lake View. She also owned her own business for many years, Custom Interiors, and operated out of an office in Wall Lake. She enjoyed designing custom draperies for many customers in the Sac County area. She traveled to Omaha once a month to view and select new drapery samples. She was a hard worker and at many times in her life held multiple jobs.
Several years into her newspaper career she took a break and worked as manager of the Wall Lake Country Store. Although it didn’t take long and she returned to the place she felt the most at home, the newspaper.
Mary Linda was a member of the Wall Lake American Legion Auxiliary and was recently honored by receiving her 80 year membership certificate. She was also a member of the Eastern Star, Wall Lake Lions Club and Lakes United Methodist Church. For many years she was instrumental in organizing the crafters for the annual Legion Auxiliary Craft Show and Pillow Cleaning. As her health declined she stepped away, but was always trying to help as much as she could.
Mary Linda was well known around the community as “the newspaper lady.” For many years she could be found covering community meetings and events with her green camera bag in hand. She was hard to miss her with her notorious red hair.
The newspaper was not her only vice. She enjoyed reading anything she could get her hands on; books, newspapers and especially the celebrity tabloids like the Enquirer and Star. She also loved jewelry and sold Sarah Coventry, Celebrity and Avon for many years. She loved to have customer home shows and attend vendor fairs setting up tables of jewelry. Typically, once a year she would host a huge Avon sale in the old Wall Lake Community Center which drew in quite a crowd. She loved it.
Above all, her family was the most important part of her life. She was immensely proud of her three children and their accomplishments. This pride trickled down to her nine grandchildren. She loved to attend their activities and display their photos, mostly in the form of newspaper clippings, on the walls in her kitchen.
Not wanting her boys to miss out on the joy of newspapers, she guided them into the exciting life as Sioux City Journal and Des Moines Register newspaper carriers. She enjoyed this special time with her sons, helping them deliver papers in the early morning and then a Sunday trip to Ampride for breakfast. She was a fan of all the lifetime activities of her children and grandchildren. Football, track, wrestling, racing, demos, volleyball, baseball or softball you would find her there with camera in hand, and most likely there would be a photo in the paper the following week. She loved to chronicle their activities by clipping their photos from the newspapers.
There are so many more things that could be said about the life of Mary Linda Mack. She was a dedicated worker, loving wife, mother and grandmother. She was always there for her children and grandchildren, no matter the instance, good or bad, she was their biggest cheerleader and defender.
Mary Linda was a breast cancer survivor and enjoyed walking with the Relay for Life.
Those left to cherish her memory include her husband of nearly 50 years, Steve Mack; her daughter, Mary Beth Blum (James Pierce); her sons Christopher (Nicole) Mack and Jonathan Mack; grandsons, Hunter (Rachelle) Blum, Dawson Mack, Masyn Mack and Mycah Mack; granddaughters, Merrin Blum, Ashton Blum (Dalton Miller), Emersyn Mack, Olivya Mack and Jillian Mack; great-grandchildren, Leighton Miller and Hayes Northway; sisters, Sharon McCreath and Dianne Wohlert; brother, Richard (Kathy) Metz, and several nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death include her parents, Carl and Irene Metz, and in-laws J.L. and Berenice Mack.
