Mary E. McDonnell, 74, of Seneca, KS, died Sunday, October 22, 2000, at Country View Estates care home in Seneca. She had Alzheimer’s Disease.

She was born May 31, 1926, on a farm southeast of Seneca, the daughter of Clem H. and Nellie J. Farley Dalsing. She grew up there, attended a country school and Sts. Peter & Paul School in Seneca. Mary worked for Emma Rottinghaus and other families in the area caring for children. She later worked as a live-in housekeeper for Duke and Starr Higbee in Seneca.

On October 22, 1949, she married Kenneth McDonnell at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. They lived in Springfield, UT, while her husband was a sales representative for Higbee Feeds. They returned to Seneca in the spring of 1950. Mary was an excellent seamstress and did sewing and alterations from the early 1950s until 1996. From 1959 to 1969 she helped her husband at the McDonnell Photography Studio, which he operated out of their home. In the early 1960s she worked cleaning the office for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She was employed as a clerk at J.C. Penney’s from 1966 to 1970 and from 1970 to 1974 at Farrell’s Ben Franklin Store, both on Main Street in Seneca. In 1974 she and her husband purchased Dorssom’s Café which they operated as McDonnell’s Café until 1979. Her husband, Kenneth, died May 15, 1988.

She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church and St. Ann’s Altar Society at the church in Seneca. Mary enjoyed all kinds of handwork, crewel, crocheting, and quilting. She babysat with her Luckeroth grandchildren for several years.

Survivors are three daughters, Kathy Stallbaumer and Lexy Luckeroth, both of Seneca, Jeanie Sack of Topeka; a brother, Raphael Dalsing of Seneca; a sister, Rosanna Mathewson of Topeka; and four granddaughters.

Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by three brothers, Wilfred, Paul, and Edward Dalsing and a sister Margaret “Peggy” Dalsing.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 AM Tuesday at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. Burial will be in the church cemetery. There will be a vigil prayer service at 7 PM Monday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca.

Memorials may be given for Sts. Peter & Paul School or for Country View Estates, and sent in care of the family.