Mary Eloise Stackpool, 91, of Glenwood, passed away after a short stay with Moment’s Hospice in Alexandria on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Born on July 6, 1933, in Fergus Falls and raised in Foxhome, Minn., Mary graduated from St. Benedicts College, St. Joseph, in 1955. In 1956, she married Jack, her college love, and they had four children: Michael, Richard, Thomas and Ann.

Prior to her marriage, she took her degree in English and started her teaching career at Glenwood High School in 1955. Her marriage to Jack led her to teaching stops in Wabasha and Foley before bringing her back to Glenwood. Mary left teaching in the 1970s to become an Executive Secretary for Challenge Nursing Homes and then became the Office Manager for Challenge Homes. This began her career into the world of business and a job as the Human Resource Manager for Glenwood Manufacturing Corporation. This career path would establish her future impact on women in the workforce.

Mary had a lifelong passion to instill in young women the value to see their own sense of worth, with real substance and potential. During a 10-year career at Alexandria Technical College, she committed those values in her own life as she developed curriculum at Alexandria Technical College on introspection and empowerment for women ages 20-58, Women in Agriculture, as well as becoming a Gender Equity Facilitator and Coordinator for Alexandria Technical College. She was dedicated to helping women find their way and help them explore careers in traditionally male oriented jobs.

One of her most treasured accomplishments occurred in 1988 when she gathered a group of women and they purchased a home on Glenwood’s main street. The Ann Bickle Heritage House was created to provide a cultural and community center which celebrates the accomplishments of women. They regularly honored local women who had contributed to the community in the tradition of Ann Bickle. The garage was converted into an art gallery and opened in 1991 as the Dina Bremness Art Gallery to show case the work of Pope County artists and crafts people. She applied to have the house placed on the National Register of Historic Places which was approved in 1997.

In 1996, Mary was awarded the Women of Excellence from the Land of Lakes Girl Scout Council recognizing her empowering work with women and girls in her community.

Mary was known for her political activism throughout her life. Her strong belief in protection of a community member’s farmland on Jan. 11, 1979, led to her arrest as a member of the “Rutledge Eight.” She was arrested for interfering the surveying of land for the CU Project (Cooperative Power Association and United Power Association) and protesting the high voltage direct current powerline crossing her close friends, Denny and Nina Rutledge’s, farmland. Later, as a challenge from her “Women in Agriculture” class to make a difference for women in society, in 1986, Mary ran for the Minnesota State Senate as a member of the DFL party. She continued to be an advocate of LGBTQ rights and in 1987 was interviewed for a Pulitzer Prize winning article series, Aids in the Heartland, featuring close friends Dick Hanson and Bert Henningson. Throughout her life she continued to be a strong advocate for women’s rights as well as organize and coordinate fundraising events, for multiple other groups and causes including Someplace Safe where in 2005 she received an award for her Outstanding Efforts Towards Ending Violence.

She is survived by sons, Michael (Jessica), Richard (Lyuda and Thomas; daughter, Ann (Larry Gunderson); 10 grandchildren, Meagan and Kristan Stackpool, Riley and Isaac Lockard, Masha Ardanova, Caitlin (Mickey Goerdt), Cavan (Hannah), Cade (Kayli Oakman) Stackpool and Amy and Nathan Gunderson; six great-grandchildren, Liam, Quinn, Graham, Blakely, Magnolia and Reggie; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack; parents, Hector and Magaret Nelson; brothers, Lynn, Gene, Claire and Dick Nelson; sisters-in-law, Margaret, Joyce and Shirley Nelson; her in-laws, Philip and Mary Stackpool; and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Kay and Patrick Teahan.

A private celebration of her life will be held later in the spring when the flowers bloom which was one of Mary’s favorite times of the year.