Mary Agnes (Budweg) Rewoldt, 99 and 9 months, died peacefully at Hillcrest Living in Sumner, on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026.
Visitation was Friday, April 3, at Becker and Son Funeral Home in Tripoli and before services at the church.
Funeral services were Saturday, April 4, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Frederika.
Burial was at the New Hampton Cemetery in New Hampton.
Mary, daughter of Elizabeth Ann (McCracken) and Fred Ferdinand Budweg, was born in the New Hampton hospital, the first Cesarean section performed there, on July 12, 1926. She was baptized and grew her faith at the Williamstown United Methodist Church. The family lived on a farm in Dresden township, Chickasaw County, where Mary attended country school from kindergarten through eighth grade. An only child, her upbringing was made adventuresome and fun by her two close cousins, Thomas and Robert McCracken. Mary grew up learning garden and poultry practices early, as the family raised their own food and fed hired men who helped on the farm.
She attended New Hampton High School and boarded with an aunt during the week as her parents continued to farm and raise livestock. Mary went on to the University of Iowa, where she graduated with a teaching degree in business education and was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She took a job at East High School in Waterloo, and while dancing at the Electric Park Ballroom in 1953, Mary talked with Frederic Dean Rewoldt of Frederika. Their first date was at the Charles City drive-in movie theater, where Frederic got lost in all the cars after going for popcorn. Mary let herself out of the car and waved him down. They were at each other’s side from that time on and were married at the New Hampton United Methodist Church on June 26, 1954.
The couple lived for a time in the back of the Farmers Savings Bank building in Frederika, where Frederic learned the business from his father, Fred Rewoldt. The couple built a home on First Avenue on the Wapsipinicon River in Frederika, where they stayed for 60 years. Mary taught at Frederika High School and welcomed daughter Margaret Jane in 1955 and then son Frederic John in 1959.
Before she turned 40, Mary lost both of her parents suddenly within one month of each other. Left alone with no siblings or parents, this double loss was life-defining, and she turned to her community to build an extended family. In the years that followed, she became that same source of steadiness and connection for others. She knew and loved her neighbors and was active in St. John’s Lutheran Church, card clubs, school board, 4-H, scouts, Town and Country Women, Bremer County Republicans and later the Red Hat Ladies. Mary refined hostess practices and took joy in pretty dishes, the perfect cup of tea, and a freezer full of cinnamon rolls, Schwan’s ice cream treats, or whatever taste her children and their friends desired. Mary supported Frederic’s career and worked weekends at the bank, growing to know their customers as good friends.
Mary cheered all small-town causes including sports teams, history-saving efforts in Chickasaw County and later at the Poor Farm Foundation in Bremer County, as well as civic projects like the Veterans Memorial in Frederika. When her children left for college, Mary and two friends started the Candy Kitchen and delivered molded confections to nearby customers. When the restaurant closed on Main Street in Frederika, Mary and her good friend Selma Carroll ran it as the S and M Cafe for one year while a new operator was recruited.
Mary enjoyed pop-up camping and then motorhome travel with Frederic, family and friends. The couple also traveled to Germany and Ireland several times to anchor connections to distant cousins. Later the couple spent winters in Apache Junction, Ariz. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Mary and Frederic focused life on their four grandchildren, Frederic Andrew and Elizabeth Margaret Smith and Frederic Ian and Abby Lee Rewoldt, attending games, concerts, and birthday parties. Mary adored Frederic Samson and Naomi Joy Smith, and Thomas Clifford Bryde, her three great-grandchildren.
In 2016, Mary moved to Homestead, an independent living cooperative in New Hampton, where she made a new family of friends and lived on her own until a week before she died. She served on the Homestead Board into her 90s.
Mary will be remembered for her warm smile and engaging demeanor. She felt close to her Irish heritage and laughed easily at minor calamities. She effortlessly came to really know people and sought relaxed conversations with friends of all ages.
She is survived by her daughter, Margaret Jane (MJ) (Dr. Andrew) Smith of Guttenberg; her son, Frederic John (Dana) Rewoldt of Huxley; grandchildren, Frederic Andrew (Kate) Smith of St. Paul, Minn. and their two children, Frederic Samson and Naomi Joy, Elizabeth Margaret Smith and her husband, T.J. Bryde of Milwaukee, Wis., and their son, Thomas Clifford “Cliff” Bryde; Frederic Ian Rewoldt (Ali Swenson) of Brooklyn, New York, and Dr. Abby Lee Rewoldt (Patrick McBee) of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; her sister-in-law, Susan Pearce Rewoldt, of Branson, Mo., and many friends, all younger than her.
She was preceded in death by her parents, and by her husband, Frederic, in 2019.
The family invites memorials in Mary’s name to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Frederika, Alcock Cemetery, Chickasaw County Historical Society or the local charity of the donor’s choice.
Mom was just 105 days from turning 100. She took leave from this earth with an Irish goodbye, sneaking out in her sleep without fuss or fear.
