Mayadell Breneman Bollefer

Mayadell Breneman Bollefer, age 94, died of natural causes in her home at Cleveland, Georgia, on September 29, 2019. Mrs. Bollefer was born November 1, 1924, in the town of Ray, in Koochiching County, Minnesota, and was the daughter of Herbert Breneman and Edith Peterson Breneman. She was a member of the South Bend United Methodist Church, and a loving wife and mother. Mrs. Bollefer chose to have her remains cremated. Therefore, there will be no customary funeral arrangements. A memorial service has been scheduled for 2:00 p.m on Saturday, November 2, 2019, at the South Bend United Methodist Church, 3512 Clarks Bridge Road, Gainesville. Pastor Richard B. Long will officiate. Mrs. Bollefer’s cremains will be interred next to her husband, in Ray, Minnesota. Mrs. Bollefer was preceded in death by her mother and father; by husband, Dwight L. Bollefer; brother, Gordon A. Breneman, and brother and sister-in-law Robert and Wilma Breneman; and by her daughter, Dianne Bollefer Krenik. She is survived by her brother and sister in law, Norton and Ruby Breneman, of Ray, Minnesota; son, Dennis Dwight Bollefer, of Pendleton, South Carolina; son and daughter-in-law, Walter & Nancy Bollefer, of International Falls, Minnesota; by daughter and son-in-law, Richard and Beverly Jean Bollefer Long, of Cleveland, GA; by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. Mayadell spent her childhood in Ray, Minnesota, where she was graduated from Falls High School. At the age of seventeen, she traveled with some classmates to Seattle, Washington, where she became a quintessential Rosie the Riveter, helping Boeing Aircraft build fighter aircraft during World War II. While working there, she began dating Dwight Bollefer, to whom she was married for fifty-two years. Together, she and Dwight owned and operated a very successful heating and airconditioning business in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and reared a family of four children. They sold the business and retired to Fergus Falls in 1984. In 1991, they moved back to Ray, MN From an early age, Mayadell was very interested in sewing. She learned to knit and to crochet. But she found her greatest creative outlet in quilting. She taught herself the art of quilting, and made hundreds of quilts, one of which was valued at more than five thousand dollars, and was judged Best of Show from 4,000 entries at a National Quilt Show. Nicknamed The Quilting Queen, Mayadell sewed hand-made quilts for her children and grandchildren. And she taught many classes in which she enabled hundreds of other women to learn the joys of quilting. At the age of 94, she was still sewing dozens of quilts to be given to disadvantaged children.