Manetta Viola Wetzel

October 16, 2024

Manetta Wetzel, 89, of Livingston, Texas, passed away at Pine Ridge Health Care and Rehabilitation in Livingston on July 5, 2024, from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease.  

Mrs. Wetzel was born Manetta Viola Younger on November 10, 1934, in rural Greeley County, the youngest of nine children of Joe and Mary Braun Younger.  She grew up in Tribune, where she graduated from Greeley County High School in 1952. She worked for several years as a teller at the First National Bank of Tribune.  Manetta married Herbert O. Wetzel on September 5, 1955, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Tribune.  They remained married for 38 years until his death in 1994. Three children were born to their union, daughters Kimberly and Kerri and son Kyle. 

Herb worked for many years as a manager of farmer’s cooperatives, a job that took their family to many different towns in western Kansas, including Ulysses, Galatia, Ness City, Clay Center, Abilene, and Greensburg, before they moved to Topeka in 1976 and eventually Lawrence, in 1989. In 2019 she moved to Kansas City to be near her daughter Kim, and in 2021 she moved to Livingston, Texas, to be near her son. 

Manetta was a proud stay-at-home mother, and her children and their activities were the center of her attention for many years of her life. She was a lifelong Roman Catholic and her Christian faith was a central part of her prayerful life. She was active in many parishes where she lived, most notably St. Andrew’s in Abilene, St. Joseph’s in Greensburg, and St. Matthew’s in Topeka.  For many years Manetta was an active volunteer with many organizations that served people in need, especially the elderly, mentally disabled, and abused and troubled women.  Manetta had many hobbies at which she excelled, including cooking and baking, sewing, quilting, crocheting, gardening, canning, and others. She enjoyed traveling and had visited nearly every state in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Mexico and Canada. She last flew in an airplane at the age of 86, when she moved to Texas. 

In addition to her husband, Manetta was preceded in death by her daughter Kerri Zupp, seven siblings, three grandchildren, and one great grandchild. She is survived by her sister Arlene Wetzel of Tribune; her daughter Kim Wetzel-Williams and son-in-law Robert Williams, of Kansas City, Kansas; son Kyle Wetzel and daughter-in-law Lindsay Wetzel of Onalaska, Texas; six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. 

The family wishes to extend its heartfelt appreciation to all the staff at The Piper Assisted Living and Memory Care in Kansas City, and Provident Memory Care and Pine Ridge Health Care and Rehabilitation in Livingston, Texas, for the exceptional care they provided to Manetta during the last years of her life.