Mary Lou Kohler
Feb. 2, 1922 ~ Sept. 22, 2022
Former Sutton resident Mary Lou Hoskins Kohler, 100, was born to eternal life on Sept. 22, 2022, at the Echo Hills assisted living in Omaha. She attained her goal of reaching 100 years of age and celebrated it with her family. Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at the Federated Church in Sutton, with Pastor Mary Scott officiating. Interment will follow at the Sutton Cemetery in Sutton. Visitation with the family present will be Monday, October 17, 2022, from 6 p.m –8 p.m., at Sutton Memorial Chapel in Sutton. The casket will be closed. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Sutton Federated Church, PO Box 306, Sutton, NE 68979. Cards may be sent to William Kohler, PO Box 40, Sutton, NE 68979.
Condolences may be left at www.suttonmemorial.com Mary Lou was born in Portland, OR on Feb. 2, 1922. She had one brother, Lewis Hoskins, who preceded her in death. They grew up in Newberg, OR, where she attended school and eventually graduated from George Fox College which was directly across the street from her house. Her Oregon roots gave her a lifelong love of the Oregon coast.
She lived through the Great Depression which changed and shaped her life. She developed a lifelong virtue of hard work, modesty, diligence, and frugality. Mary Lou took time off from college during World War II to work at the Portland shipyards where they built ships for the war effort. There she met her beloved husband, the late Morris Kohler. They were married in 1943 by her father, a county judge, in their home in Newberg, OR. They were married for 68 years.
She and Morrie lived in Portland, as she finished her college degree while commuting to George Fox College in Newberg. After graduation, the young couple moved to Seattle where Morrie played professional football and Mary Lou was the team secretary for the Seattle Bombers. They started their family with the birth of their first son, Richard. After his birth, they moved to the Oregon coast and expanded their family with two more sons, Robert and James.
During that time, the family made the sacrifice to live apart. Mary Lou stayed in Oregon with Robert and James while supporting their family by working at an insurance agency. Richard lived with his paternal grandparents in Nebraska while Morrie attended mortuary school in Kansas City in order to join his father’s mortuary business in Sutton.
After about a year apart, the entire family moved to their long-time home in Sutton in 1951. The family grew again with the birth of their two sons, William and Steven. But the attraction of the Oregon coast was always there, and almost every summer the family would drive to Oregon to visit her mother and father and to spend time at the beach. That annual trip would continue with Morrie and then in her later years with her sons.
In 1962, Mary Lou used her inheritance from her father to buy an insurance agency in Sutton and became one of the few female business owners at that time. She worked diligently as the sole proprietor of her insurance agency, Kohler Insurance Agency, on Main Street for 30 years until her retirement in the early 1990s.
Mary Lou was passionate about tennis and golf, which she played late into her life. She was a longtime supporter of the Fox Hollow Golf Course. She enjoyed watching tennis matches and especially looked forward to the US Open and Wimbledon. She was a big Husker football fan and would watch every game dressed in red. She also enjoyed watching Husker women’s volleyball.
Mary Lou was extremely independent and would resent anyone telling her she couldn’t do something. She always proved them wrong. She was passionate about women’s place in the world. She lived on her own until 95 years of age, then moved to live the dorm life with her friends at the Sutton Community Home. Mary Lou moved to Echo Hills Assisted Living in Omaha her last eight months to be close to family.
Mary Lou was a member of the Federated Church, Order of the Eastern Star, served as secretary of the Sutton Cemetery and an active member of the P.E.O.
Mary Lou was deeply loved and will be missed by her family.
Mary Lou is survived by her five sons: Richard (Sharon); Robert, James, William (Tish), and Steven (Diane); five grandchildren: Laura, Lisa (Patrick), Danielle (Brett), Logan and Dylan; and two great-grandsons: Chace and Tyler.
