Mary Sue McAllister, 66, of Bankston, Iowa, passed away peacefully at her home on February 20th, 2024 with loving family at her side following a courageous battle with Merkel cell carcinoma. Visitation will be held from 2 pm to 8 pm on Sunday, February 25th at Reiff's Funeral Home in Farley, Iowa, where a prayer service will be held at 1:30 p.m., and the Dyersville Fire Department will meet in a body at 6 pm.  Visitation will also be held after 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the funeral home.  Funeral services will be at 10 am on Monday, February 26th at St. Clement's Church in Bankston, with Fr. Michael Schueller presiding.  Burial will follow in the St. Clement's Cemetery in Bankston.

Mary was born on July 28th, 1957, in Manchester, IA. She was the daughter of Robert J. and Mary Eileen (Hagerty) Conrad, and was raised on her family's farm near Bankston. Mary attended school first at St. Clement's in Bankston before attending school at Western Dubuque, where she graduated from in 1975. She then went on to Capri College for cosmetology, which led her to spend several years as a hairdresser in the Dubuque County area before transitioning to farming full-time. On July 8th, 1978 she was united in marriage to her high school sweetheart, Mark McAllister, at St. Clement's Church in Bankston. Mark and Mary spent many years renting a farm outside of Farley, until they purchased their first farm in 1990 that was in Mary's family for several generations and just down the road from Mary's home farm. Upon buying the farm, Mark and Mary began dairy farming and never stopped. Mary spent every day since buying the home farm keeping it clean and making small improvements that significantly added up over the years to make it what it is today.

Mary's many passions shone brightly in her daily life. The three things that were of utmost importance to Mary included her family, friends, and her farm. She took great pride in raising her five children on the farm, spending endless amounts of time improving her home and farm to make it a better place for future generations. It was rare to see Mary sitting down, as she was always working on something or spending time with her loved ones or making something for a loved one. Throughout the years, Mary was faced with many hardships as they often come in farming, but she took every obstacle in stride and maintained an optimistic attitude throughout her life. She was known for not only her work ethic but for her thoughtfulness, and enjoyed home projects, sewing, cooking/baking wonderful homemade goodies, and collecting antiques.

Mary adored her kids and grandkids, and cherished her many friends she made throughout her life. She had the best group of friends and cherished her amazing neighborhood that always took care of her and her family. If you knew Mary, you knew she loved anything with sparkle, which is fitting as she was truly the sparkle in our lives. She will be dearly missed by many.

Those left to cherish her memory and carry on her legacy include her husband, Mark; five children, Rob, Russ, Chris (Megan), Ted (Megan), and Mary Eileen (Joe) Taylor; her three grandchildren, Brody, Taylor and Colton McAllister; two siblings, Patty (John) Kane, Robert (Ramona) Conrad; siblings-in-law Frank Heim, Sharon (Richard) Kramer, Rita (Mel) Welter, Gerry (Karen) McAllister, Jean Conrad and Ron Benke.

Those waiting to embrace Mary Sue on the other side include her parents, Robert and Eileen Conrad; two siblings, Gerry Conrad and Linda Benke; two siblings who passed in infancy; her grandparents, Louis and Madeline (Schmitt) Hagerty and Tom and Angeline (Pfeiler) Conrad; parents-in-law Don and Cecelia McAllister; a brother-in-law, Jack McAllister, and a sister-in-law, Donna Heim.

The family of Mary Sue would like to thank Dr. Chandrika and the care teams at The University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center; the care team at MercyOne Dubuque Cancer Center, and the care team at Hospice of Dubuque, especially her nurse Carrie, for taking such good care of Mary during her cancer journey as well as Joe Reiff with Reiff Funeral Home and St. Clement's Church for coordinating services. Lastly, Mary especially wanted to thank her favorite primary care physician, Sherry Kelchen, for her care and compassion over the years as well as Emily Merges, her favorite ER nurse for looking out for her throughout Mary's cancer journey.