Mary Sue Kirby

Mary Sue Kirby

Mary Sue Kirby, 79, of David City, died Friday, April 19, 2024 at her home in David City.


Mass of Christian Burial

Wednesday, April 24, 2024  10:00 a.m.

St. Mary's Catholic Church, David City, Nebraska.   Rev. Brian Connor Celebrant

Visitation Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Kracl Funeral Chapel, David City

Rosary 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at Kracl Funeral Chapel.

Visitation Wednesday 9 a.m. till mass time at the church

Committal St. Mary's Cemetery, David City, Nebraska

Lunch following at the Butler County Event Center

Memorials in care of the family for future designation

Mary Sue (Carlson) Kirby died on April 19, 2024 at her home in David City, Nebraska.

Mary Sue was a beloved wife, a mother of four, the grandmother to eleven, and an ‘other mother’ to so many individuals who grew up in and around her community.

  • Mary Sue (Carlson) Kirby was born June 25, 1944 in Slayton, Minnesota to Royal and Margaret (Holland) Carlson. She moved around with her family in Minnesota while growing up, graduating from Bloomington High School in the suburbs of Minneapolis and attending college in Mankato, MN.

Mary Sue was full of stories of her childhood and life while growing up in Minnesota. She told tales of learning to drive a car on frozen lakes, skiing and tobogganing with cousins, and knocking her front teeth out while jumping on a friend’s trampoline. Though that last example isn’t specific to Minnesota, Mary Sue was clearly an active youth, with energetic siblings, and an engaged extended family.

  • After marrying John Kirby on June 26, 1970 at St. Richards Catholic Church in Richfield, MN, Mary Sue and John Kirby lived on Long Island, NY before moving to Nebraska and settling in to build their family in David City.In Mary Sue’s working life, she had been a pre-school teacher, a nurses assistant, and she managed the Northside Café in David City for a number of years – feeding people while feeding on all the information that came from the café community of regulars and team members. She enjoyed investing her time in retirement by reading, spending time with family and friends, and volunteering in the community and for the St. Mary’s guild.Mary Sue possessed an innate, and most likely inherited, upper Midwest stoicism. What she perhaps lacked in outward signs of love, she made up for by consistently and deeply communicating care in so many ways. She created and managed a household that any child would be privileged to grow up in. She was the mom and person who…
  • Made hot apple cider and enjoyed it with you in your pathetic, crumbling snow fort.
  • Adeptly soothed cuts, scrapes and other minor injuries – while offering comfort like, “Don’t worry. It’s a long way from the heart.”
  • Conjured up four dozen cookies the day before you needed them at school (and forgot to tell her) while making extra cookie ‘mistakes’ for the other sweet tooths in the household.
  • Gave you the freedom to make your own choices, while holding you accountable and expecting you to take responsibility for your actions.
  • Fit comfortably in the supportive role of ‘good cop’ to Mr. John Kirby’s ‘bad cop’ – though they each reserved the right to switch roles to keep you guessing.
    • Mary Sue has given so much to others – To her husband, especially as his caregiver as he battled cancer; to her children, as they grew into adults and forge their own way through parenthood; and to her grandchildren, with endless love – and the occasional well-deserved Mary Sue ‘eye roll.’Those who knew Mary Sue – as a kindergarten student, as Northside Café regular or employee, as member of St. Mary’s guild and parish community – will continue to cherish the memories of the life she lived well. Her family will toast those memories and her lasting impact for a very, very long time.  Cheers!Mary Sue is preceded in death by her husband, John Kirby, her mother, Margaret Helberg, her father Royal Carlson, her sister, Nancy Stidger, and her brother, Robin Carlson.

    She is survived by her sweet stepmother, Geri Carlson, and her four children: Kelly Kampschneider, Kerry Kirby, Chris (and Karol) Kirby, and Tracy Kirby. Mary Sue’s loving but ornery kids have provided her with eleven grandchildren over the years. Many have observed that Mary Sue’s grandchildren are even MORE loving than their parents – they possess a bit of that Minnesota stoicism, but they say “I love you” and hand out hugs with a bit more ease, and they show excellent potential for next level orneriness.

  • Mary Sue is also survived by several cousins, nieces, nephews and other extended family whom she very much loved