Mary Helen Geenen nee Knorr, age 86, of Appleton passed away on Friday, February 17, 2023. Mary was born in Appleton, Wisconsin on August 26, 1936, but lived in Neenah and mostly Menasha in the family of Harvey Daniel Knorr and Kathryn (Mamie) Marie (Dennee). Her siblings were sisters Corinne (Grishaber), Linda (Grishaber), Beth (Blohm), Virginia (Ging) and brothers Richard (Dick), Theodore (Ted), Fredrick (Fred), Harvey Samuel (Sam), and Roger. She married William James Geenen, Jr. from Appleton on September 4, 1957, in Menasha. They lived together for more than sixty years until Bill's passing in 2018. Mary attended Roosevelt Elementary School in Neenah, St. Patrick's Grade School of Menasha and graduated from St. Mary Catholic High School, Menasha, 1954.

Mary was a homemaker, a volunteer in the community as well as the bookkeeper for the Northland Tom's Drive-In, the family business. As part of Bill's career in retail, she and the family made homes in Appleton, Wisconsin; Albert Lea, Minnesota; Dubuque, Iowa; Bismarck, North Dakota and Tempe, Arizona.

Mary and Bill were avid tennis players, fans and members of the local Fox Cities Racquet Club. Tennis was the main outlet for their recreational and social lives for decades. They would regularly drive to Hilton Head, South Carolina, often to play tennis as well as watch professional sporting events there. Those road trips were memorable to them for the places they visited along the way.

Mary's volunteer work and public service over her lifetime included King's Daughters annual Too Many Cooks cookbook fundraisers, the American Red Cross and Meals On Wheels. She was a long-time member of the Hooks 'n Needles knitting group from Volunteer Fox Cities where she knit hundreds of sweaters for indigent and immigrant communities for more than a decade. She was a sweater-knitting "machine." Mary always liked and wanted to be known for: Tennis, knitting and bookkeeping — where she was as ferocious tracking down an errant penny in her checkbook as she was a competitor on the tennis court. And her embroidered pillows remain treasured by family and friends alike.

Mary is survived by sons Hugh (Sara Hospador), Brad and Stuart (Joy Wilson), grandchildren Brett, Natalie (Brian Anderson), Clayton and Sophia, and great-granddaughter Averie Wendy (Anderson). Preceded in death by husband Bill, brothers Dick, Ted, Fred, Sam, Roger, sister Corinne, daughter-in-law, Wendy (Kloes) and parents Harvey and Mamie.

A public remembrance is scheduled for 1-4 pm, Sunday, April 16, 2023 at the Lake Park Crossing Office Club House, 3135 E. Lake Park Crossing, Appleton, Wisconsin.

The family would like to especially thank the entire staffs at The Landings of Kaukauna, St. Croix Hospice, and primary care physician Dr. Michael C. Johnson for their professionalism and compassionate care at the end of Mary's life.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Volunteer Fox Cities or the charity of your choice in Mary's name.