Patricia A. Mayerhofer

Patricia A. Mayerhofer, of Jordan, passed away on December 10, 2025 at the age of 88.

A Visitation will be held from 4:00 - 7:00 PM on Monday, December 22, 2025 at Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation, Jordan, MN. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM with an additional Visitation from 10:00 - 11:00 AM on Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at St. Michael Catholic Church, Prior Lake, MN. Father Tom Walker will preside. Pat will be laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery in Jordan, MN.

Pat was born on July 28, 1937, at her family home in Heidelberg, Minnesota…kitty corner from the Catholic Church…she was welcomed as the eighth of nine children to Frank Ambroz and Josephine (nee Maxa) Ambroz. Her childhood was shaped by small-town life, where her father worked in the sawmill and owned the local bar. Some of Pat’s most retold childhood events include the time, as a little girl, when she tried to “help” with the laundry and got her arm caught up in the wringer of the machine, and another time when she experienced a ruptured appendix that she was lucky to survive. She would also tell of how her brothers nick-named her “chicken legs” when she was a kid. Having had a multitude of issues with her leg over the years, including arthritis, blood clots, knee replacement, and in her latest years a badly broken femur… being called chicken legs didn’t seem like a bad thing.

In 1955, Pat graduated from Montgomery High School. Before she was out of high school, she met her future husband, Erv, at a dance. After graduating, she continued to date Erv, and moved to Hopkins where she waited tables in a restaurant and lived with her sister Marge, though she didn’t much like living in a big city.

On May 5, 1956, Pat and Erv married. The wedding was at the Heidelberg church and the reception was in her parents’ yard, just across the street. After they married, Pat and Erv lived in an apartment in Hopkins for a short time, then moved into Erv’s childhood home in Jordan, living with Erv’s mom. After a couple of years, Erv’s mom remarried and sold the house to Pat and Erv.

It is in the house on Mertens Street that Pat and Erv raised their family of six children; three sons and three daughters. Even with six children…eight people being a bit of a squish in a four-door car, Pat and Erv managed to rent a lake cabin and take the family on a week vacation every summer to Alexandria. If the car seems like a tight squeeze, a fishing boat was even more of a challenge. Even with all the tangled lines and a few whining children flopping around in the boat that wanted to swim instead….fish were caught. It is on vacation that the family played a card game every evening called “Billy Oat” (actually Crazy 8). Upon losing a round, everyone pointed at that kid taunting “Billy Oat! Billy Oat!” (which stood for billygoat) and then it was off to bed for the loser. The longer a kid got good cards, the longer that kid got to stay up. Somehow…it’s hard to figure out how, this ritual of ending the night in tears was a game so loved that it was carried on by the next generation. But it will come as no surprise that as Pat continued to vacation with grandchildren, and then also great grandchildren, this rule of going straight to bed somehow became “be on Grandma’s team” time, instead of going straight to bed. Go figure.

While raising six children, there were many other children that Pat loved. Pat ran an in-home Daycare for over 40 years. There were cribs in the bedrooms, and babies and toddlers to greet family members before and after school. Her daycare included many of her own grandchildren, and even a few great grandchildren, but all of the kids called her “Grandma Pat.”

Pat worked for years as a cook at Geno’s Hub, where they prepared the famous “Geno’s Chicken Dinner” for weddings and community banquets. While it was no doubt hard work and long days on her feet, she enjoyed this time working with some of her best friends over the years. Pat also had great friend time with her card club ladies that met monthly to play Sheephead. She loved going to bingo, something she did with her husband Erv for a lot of years. She continued to enjoy this past time with the Bingo friends she made along the way for just as long as she could.

Pat started bowling shortly after she was married. With Erv as her partner and then later with her oldest grandson, Nick, taking on that role, Pat always maintained a very competitive spirit. She played in a women’s bowling league as well, continuing both until she turned 80 years old. She was even entered in the Minnesota Bowler’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

Pat was an avid Brewer Fan, not afraid to name her favorite players that included more than just players from her own family. She had a regular seat at the Mini Met where you could always find her. If she wasn’t there for some odd reason, those who usually sat around her would be asking about her whereabouts, or one of her grandsons would pop out of the dugout to ask, “Where’s Grandma?” Pat wasn’t known for being shy from the stands….cheering loudly for her favorite Brewers, and…to be sure…not afraid to express her opinions to an umpire.

Pat had a special relationship with all her grandchildren. There were 17 of them, and she would be the first to let you know that 16 of them were boys! Needless to say, she had an especially strong connection to her one girl. They remember the Grandma that would pin towels to their backs to play superheroes as kids, and the smack talking Grandma in a game of Nickels, and the Grandma that would glory in sitting in the middle of all of it telling her stories. They remember her as a grandma that put both peanut butter AND butter in their sandwiches, a Grandma that always said yes when they had a hand on the cookie jar, and a Grandma that could cram everyone into that house on Mertens Street for holidays that started early and ended late….very late.

Pat’s lifetime was filled with family, and friends. She spent so many years having loads of fun times; especially with her sisters, her family and friends, children and grandchildren, her cherished nieces and nephews and most of all with her husband Erv. In the years after he passed, Pat continued to have fun, but never stopped talking about how much she missed Erv. Pat (or Patty to many) will be dearly missed. She is survived by her children; Dave (Linda) Mayerhofer, Deb (Larry) Atneosen, Tom (Kathy) Mayerhofer, Pam (Ron) Beckman, Mary (Mark) Finley, Ron (Kim) Mayerhofer; Grandchildren: Anthony (Katrina) Mayerhofer, John (Emily) Mayerhofer, Tim (Alexa) Mayerhofer, Nick (Taylor) Ebneter, Dan (Alissa) Ebneter, Mitchell (Emily) Atneosen, Philip Atneosen, Kevin (Claire) Mayerhofer, Sam Mayerhofer, Alex (Sarah) Beckman, Steve (EO) Beckman, Nate Beckman, Joe (Kate) Agnew, Bill (Kelsie) Busch, Laura (Justin) Stolpe, Ethan Mayerhofer, Evan Mayerhofer; and 23 great grandchildren.

Pat was preceded in death by her husband Ervin, son-in-law, Lance Ebneter, parents; Josephine and Frank. As the last surviving member of her family, Pat was preceded in death by all her siblings and their spouses; Bob (MaryKay)Ambroz, Marge (Les) Reneberg, Rose Neisen (Herman), Gene (Delores) Ambroz, Lloyd (Evelyn) Ambroz, Irene (Dale) Benson, Leonard (Pat) Ambroz, June (Sid) Thibodo, as well as many other relatives and friends.

Pat will be remembered for her resilience, humor, warmth and unwavering commitment to family and community. Her stories, traditions and spirited presence will be deeply missed.