Mary Ellen Holgate

Mary Ellen Holgate, 91, passed away peacefully on April 8, 2020, in the only home she’d ever known.

She started her journey in June 1928 in Fargo, ND. At age 2, Mary Ellen lost her mother, and because of family circumstances during the Great Depression, was sent to live with various relatives around North Dakota.

Hers was not an ideal childhood, but she used some hard lessons learned to later make a home for her family where children felt safe, loved, and supported. That was her greatest gift to us.

Mary Ellen spent her high school years at Sacred Heart Academy in Fargo, and there she met many lifelong friends. She married Bill Holgate in 1949. They settled in south Fargo, where they raised their family: Lynn, Julie and Jay.

Mary Ellen was one of the great neighborhood moms, known for her sense of humor and generosity, as well as her Marble Squares, aprons and ham gravy.

Mom loved to sew, and made her girls countless Easter outfits and school dresses, and the occasional wedding dress. Jay even scored a handmade Batman cape, which he promptly got stuck in the spokes of his trike.

Mary Ellen was preceded in death by her husband, William; mother, Dora (Denis) Byrne; father, Bernard Byrne; brother, Don Byrne; stepmother, Mary Byrne, and son-in-law, Lynn “Smitty” Smith. She’ll be dearly missed by her children, Lynn (Cloquet, MN), Julie (Moorhead), Jay (Minneapolis); grandsons, Beau (Cloquet, MN) and Eric Smith (Plymouth, MN), daughter-in-law, Maria Haack (Minneapolis), and sisters-in-law, Nancy (John) Hammett and Joanne Fleckner.

We want to thank Mom’s great neighbors, Gordy and Dewey, Dr. Michael Sheldon, and RRV Hospice team of Desiree, Robyn, Nicole, Hannah and Tom for all of their help with Mom.

A graveside service will be held on Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 3:00 PM in Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Fargo, ND.

“Be all the things you miss most about the people who are gone.”