Mary Ekhoff

Mary Ekhoff, age 72, of Aurora, passed away on Thursday, February 10, 2022, at Memorial Community Care.
A Memorial Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 15 at Messiah Lutheran Church, 415 South 18th Street in Aurora.  Rev. Rudy Flores will officiate. Inurnment will be in the Aurora Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. on Monday at the church.  The family requests casual dress for the services.  Memorials may be made to the family to designate at a later date. Higby-McQuiston Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.  Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through the mortuary website at www.higbymortuary.com.
Mary June Ekhoff, the daughter of John and Marilyn (Hackwell) Byrd, was born in Massena, Iowa on June 26, 1949 and passed away in Aurora, on February 10, 2022, at the age of 72.
Mary grew up in Massena, Iowa graduating from Cumberland-Massena High School in 1967.  She attended Secretarial School in Omaha.
Mary was united in marriage to Jerry Ekhoff on December 7, 1968 at Massena, Iowa.  They made their home in Atlantic, Iowa where Mary worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for Banker’s Life at Walnut Grove, Iowa.  She later worked for E & E Meat Proc. in Cook, until moving to Aurora in 1985, where she worked as a secretary and case worker for Nebraska Dept. of Health & Human Services for nearly 30 years.  She moved to Memorial Community Care due to declining health.
She was a member of the Messiah Lutheran Church of Aurora.  Mary loved to travel, bowl, read, spending time with her grandchildren and watching Royal’s baseball.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Those left to cherish her memory are her husband, Jerry of Aurora; three children, Brock (Renee) and Kory (Heather) Ekhoff, all of Aurora, and Hillary Fuhrman (Keith Brown) of Central City; 6 grandchildren, Morgan and Ford Ekhoff, Kinleigh Ekhoff, and Hope Fuhrman, Cameron (Kelly) Orsburn and Heather (Mitch) Kozak and great-granddaughter, CeCe Kozak.She is also survived by her sister, Jo (Scott) Helgeson; two brothers Ed (Robin) Byrd and John (Peggy) Byrd, many nieces and nephews and other friends and relatives.