Mary Jo Sittenauer

Mary Jo Sittenauer - Mary Jo (Davenport) Sittenauer, 80, Sebastopol, California, formerly of Atchison, Kansas died peacefully Friday, August 6, 2010, at Victoriaâ??s Place in Santa Rosa, California. Her many friends, along with the staff of Victoriaâ??s Place and Hospice provided her with excellent comfort and companionship in her last hours. Mass of Christian Burial will be Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 10:30 A.M. at St. Benedictâ??s Church with Rev. Gerard Senecal, OSB as celebrant. Interment will follow in Mt. Calvary Cemetery. A Recitation of the Rosary will be Wednesday, August 11th at 7:00 P.M. in the chapel of Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home, Atchison, Kansas with visitation to follow until 8:30 P.M. She was preceded in death by her only child, a son, Barry Sittenauer on September 17, 2009, her parents Barry and Josephine Davenport, her former husband, Joe Sittenauer and a niece Janet Reynolds. Mary Jo was born August 22, 1929, in Atchison, Kansas, the daughter of Barry and Josephine Steinweiden Davenport. She married Joe Sittenauer October 7, 1951 at St. Josephâ??s Church in Atchison, Kansas. They moved to California and then to Alaska where Joe was stationed in the military. They were later divorced and Mary Jo devoted her life to her son Barry. She and Barry lived in Atchison, Kansas, then Phoenix, Arizona, later settling back in California. Mary Jo was a free spirit and had many interests, music, art and history. She was still taking college courses until the beginning of her illness. Mary Jo and her son Barry recently sold her property in Sonoma County to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. The project being the first of its kind in Sonoma County is to promote small family farms by purchasing a conservation easement, making the sale to a local farmer more affordable. The project combines permanent natural resource protection for ecologically significant marsh area with a requirement for continuous fruit and vegetable production on the fertile uplands. The Sittenauer Familyâ??s historic role in safeguarding family farms will be memorialized with a small monument on the property. Survivors include two granddaughters, Nicole Healon, Rohnert Park, CA, Hailley Healon, Rohnert Park, CA, four sisters, Patricia Colstrom, Platte Woods, MO, Shirley Swank, Ames, IA, Sarah Dooley, Atchison, KS, Bonnie Ayer, Lakeside, AZ, and numerous nieces and nephews.