St. Louis Park, MN - Mary "Josie" Josephine Petermeier, 74, of St. Louis Park, MN, died on February 2nd, 2026 at Our Lady of Peace Hospice Care in St. Paul, MN after battling pancreatic cancer since her diagnosis in 2018.

She was born on October 15th, 1951 to parents Alphonse and Alice Vaske in LeMars, IA.

Josie earned her BA in Theology in 1980 from Creighton University in Omaha NE. She later earned a diploma in electronics at Northwestern Electronics Institute in Minneapolis, MN.

She married her husband Gerald "Jerry" Petermeier on June 28th, 1986 and they had two sons, Ben and Dan.

Josie worked a variety of jobs throughout her life. She was a technician working on Pitney Bowes mailing equipment, an accountant for the family restaurant "The Wienery," and a school lunch cook. For decades, Josie was an active volunteer with Boy Scouts of America, her local food shelf, and later, many roles including CFO with Roman Catholic Women Priests, where she proudly became an ordained Priest in 2015.

Josie was a loving wife, mom, pastor, scout, and all-around handy-person. Some of her favorite hobbies included geocaching, riding her scooter, snuggling her pets, and playing sudoku.

Josie is survived by her husband Jerry Petermeier, her sons Ben (Molly) Petermeier and Dan Petermeier, and her sisters Jane Mertes, Margaret (Myron) Majeres, Jan Goebel, and Joan Vaske. She was preceded in death by her parents Alphonse and Alice Vaske.

Josie has chosen to donate her body to the University of Minnesota for medical research.

A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 am on Thursday April 9th 2026, at Prospect Park United Methodist Church, 22 SE Orlin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55414. The service will be presided by her close friends of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

As helping others has always been important to Josie, memorials or donations may be made to Second Harvest Heartland food shelf.

https://www.2harvest.org/