Mary Healy Mentink

A teacher before she was a teacher, a mother and sister always, Mary Healy Mentink, 88, passed away February 23, 2026. 

Born October 7, 1937, to John Dee and Katherine Hicok Healy, Mary learned early the pull of family and friendships, the joy of reading and curiosity, and the value of education. She graduated from Marquette University in 1959 with a B.S. in speech pathology and was married the following year. Mary and her husband Juan Mentink in time returned to their hometown of Houghton, Mich., then in 1967 moved to Rhinelander, where Mary developed lifelong friendships and raised her girls. 

Though she happily accepted the moniker “stay-at-home Mom,” Mary was many things: Mother of six, school board member, devoted church goer, Meals on Wheels driver, speech and reading tutor, a visitor to the homebound, and neighborhood prankster. With warmth, insights and accountability, Mary welcomed her children’s friends with stories, gingersnap cookies, and a chore or two, usually involving a dust rag. 

Mary spent a few years as copy editor at the Hodag Shopper newspaper and substitute teacher. She earned her teaching certificate at UW-Superior and taught second graders at Rhinelander Catholic Central for 15 years, shaping their young minds for a life of curiosity and kindness. She supplemented required lessons with Paddle to the Sea to explore geography, history, astronomy, math, and the thrill of learning new words and their etymology. 

She loved a good pun and poems. She found solace in books and long morning bike rides. She was curious and a learner. 

Mary would say she’d had a good life blessed with caring friends and a wonderful large extended family of story tellers who are “good people.” Despite heartaches, Mary would not complain. Instead, she counted her blessings, prayed the Beatitudes, and looked out for others less fortunate. 

She was loyal, nurturing, sometimes silly, and unwavering in her trust in friends. She did not gossip, she redirected rumor mongers, she kept confidences. 

Family was her center. She delighted in her children’s lives, friends and families. As dementia robbed her of words and memories, her ruminations turned to stories of her parents and brothers, their escapades, and their generosity. “We are so lucky,” she often told callers.

Mary is preceded in death by her parents, her stepmother Eleanor Thompson Healy, brothers Timothy (“Tim”), John (“Jake”), Robert (“Boots”), Peter (“Becca”); sisters-in-law Colleen, Gretchen, and Ingrid; nieces Elizabeth (“Liz”) and Mary; nephew and Godson James (“Jim”). 

She is survived by her brother Michael Healy (Irene); sister-in-law Mary (Sanregret) Healy; daughters Jane, Ann, Katherine (Kevin), Margaret (Mike), Mary (George) and Sara (Ryan); 12 grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and a great-grandson on the way; 20 nieces and nephews, and a wide web of family, friends, neighbors, fellow teachers and so many more she touched and influenced through her years. 

As a lover of words and grammar, Mary and her visitors regularly referenced the large dictionary on a stand in her living room. A favorite word was “Integrity.” Mary’s family is most grateful she had people of integrity lovingly care for her as she transitioned from her Rhinelander home to Millstream Commons in Northfield, Minn., then to Breck Homes in Bloomington, Minn. 

We rejoice because Mom is released from suffering, she is rejoined with her memories, and reunited with her loved ones.

A more full obituary is available on Legacy.com. 

Family and friends will honor Mary’s life with a funeral Mass at Nativity of Mary Catholic Church, 9900 Lyndale Ave S, Bloomington, MN 55420 on Friday, March 13, at 11 a.m.

Visitation before Mass at 10 a.m. in the vestibule. A simple luncheon will be served following Mass.

There will be a celebration of life in Rhinelander in July. 

Internment will be in Houghton, Mich. 

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you to follow Mary’s lead with contributions to your local library, Nativity Catholic School in Rhinelander, or support the staff and residents of Breck Homes through its foundation Houlding On & Letting Go https://www.houldingonlettinggo.org/.