RAPID CITY- Mary Ellen Anderson Kern was born February 23, 1920, to Walter Steven and Talulah Belle Palmer Anderson of Harlem, Georgia. She married Truman H. Kern July 17, 1945, at the Methodist Church in Harlem, Georgia. Capt. Kern was stationed at Camp Gordon, Georgia, and had 2 young sons, Peter M. and Jerome Kern. Mary married into a ready-made family. In late 1947 Mary, Pete, and Jerry traveled to Japan where her husband was stationed as a part of the Occupation Army. Her daughter Mary Elizabeth was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1948. The family traveled to Virginia, Indiana, and New York before moving to Fort Hood, Texas, from which Col. Kern retired in 1963. Mary and "Bud" then made their home in and around Kingsland, Texas, where Bud died in December, 1993. Mary stayed in their home on their beloved Colorado River until moving into the Windchimes in Kingsland in December, 2007, where she spent several happy, productive years. In November, 2011, she moved to Rapid City to live with her daughter and family and where she died June 6, 2013, at her daughter's home with her daughter at her side. She spent her last years surrounded by family. She was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters Myrtice, Annie, Jessie Mae, and Nellie Jo; and her brother TA, as well as her husband Bud. She is survived by Peter (Rosie) Kern of San Antonio, Texas; Jerome (Sandra) Kern of Cedar Park, Texas; and Mary Elizabeth (Richard) Renka of Rapid City, South Dakota, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren including Mary's sons Neil (Melanie) Sargeant and Jon (Shannon) Sargeant of Rapid City, and their children Isabel, Riley, Avery, Chris, Alex, and Megan. She was buried at the Black Hills National Cemetery, South Dakota. Graveside services will be at 1:00 p.m., Friday, June 7, 2013 at Black Hills National Cemetery, near Sturgis.