Mary Jane Meininger

July 7, 1931 - January 6, 2021

Mary Jane Meininger was called home on the morning of January 6, 2021 to be with our Lord. Mary Jane was born on July 7, 1931 to Lloyd H. Etzel and Mary J. (Norris) Etzel in Scottsbluff, NE. She was raised near Huntley, WY on the Etzel homestead in the house her father built. A couple of years later she was joined by her brothers, Lloyd E. Etzel and Willy Etzel. Mary Jane started school at Katzar School and later graduated from Huntley High School. After graduating she worked in the Huntley Cafeteria and a summer at Flagg Ranch in Yellowstone, WY. Mary Jane met her husband Leroy E. Meininger and began farming on the Chalupa place. Later they would move to the Etzel homeplace where she spent the rest of her life. Mary Jane was known for her love of horses and animals, cooking, and feeding anyone who walked through the door. She loved having visitors and her door was always open. She had a huge heart and was always concerned about others. Known as the Birthday Queen, she always had a card ready to be mailed to help celebrate that special day and if you were lucky, your favorite birthday cake. Numerous nieces and nephews spent happy summers at their Aunt Mary’s house, riding ponies, playing with baby lambs, calves, kittens, and puppies. The original Pied Piper is what her brother Willy called her. She never met a rattlesnake whose tail did not end up in her collection much to her family’s amusement. Mary Jane Meininger is survived by her three daughters, Jo Meininger, Peggy Sue Meininger and Joyce (Dean) Root, three granddaughters and numerous nieces and nephews. Mary Jane Meininger was proceded in death by her parents, her husband, Leroy, two brothers, Lloyd (Eddie) & Willy Etzel, and two nieces, Jackie Miller and Sandra Jack. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Lyman United Church of Christ or the Torrington Senior Friendship Center.