MARY E. RAVELING, 63, of Cherokee, Iowa, passed away Sunday morning, August 9, 2015 in the Cherokee Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, August 13th, at 2 p.m. from the St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cherokee, Iowa. Rev. Cris Decious and Rev. Michael Hyde will officiate. Burial will be in the Oakland Cemetery at Peterson, Iowa. There will be a family prayer service at 1:45 p.m. at the church on Thursday. Visitation will be on Wednesday from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. with the family present from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Mary was born February 21, 1952 at Madrid, Iowa to Ivan & Edna (Brown) Littlehale. She attended elementary and high school in Ames, Iowa, graduating in 1970. She attended Iowa State for one year. She was married to Rodney Rene Raveling August 28, 1971. Mary and Rod raised two wonderful children, Robert & Rebecca. She returned to college, attending Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music. She obtained her Master's Degree in Music from the University of South Dakota in 1996. She played the organ in several of the local churches, was a piano and voice instructor, Music Educator at Schleswig Community School and Spalding Catholic School, Campus Administrator and Adjunct Faculty of Western Iowa Tech for the Cherokee Campus. Mary had been a member of the St. Paul's United Methodist Church where she had been the Choir Director. She was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Iowa Choral Director's Association. She enjoyed quilting, reading, crocheting, playing piano and organ, a lover of coffee, and especially enjoyed her grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters-in-law Nancy Bargefield and Bev Bargefield.

She is survived by her husband Rod, two children and three grandchildren: Robert (Roxanne) Raveling of Sioux City, Iowa and their daughters Isabele and Audrey; Rebecca Elemond of Cherokee, Iowa and her daughter Samantha Schoenherr; one brother Ed Bargefield of Galesburg, Illinois; her father-in-law and mother-in-law Arden and Norma Raveling of Peterson, Iowa; two brothers-in-law: Blair (Mary) Raveling of Peterson, Iowa; Paul Raveling of Farmington, Minnesota; also several nieces and nephews.