Wende Oyloe, 56, Owatonna

Wende Denise Oyloe, age 56, passed away peacefully at home, in Owatonna, on Nov. 7, 2024, after a 5-year long battle with cancer, surrounded by family and friends.

Wende was born July 3, 1968, in Kenosha, Wis., to parents Pamela and Gerald Krause.

She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1986 in Thief River Falls, Minn., and attended college in Bemidj.

Wende worked in the hospitality industry, becoming the youngest woman in Minnesota to be a certified hotel administrator at the time.

When Wende was managing a hotel in Faribault, she met Kevin Oyloe. A year and a half later, the two were married on Sept. 24, 1993, at Christ the King Church in Medford. She was instrumental in the successful growth of the family business, Apex Painting, for 30 years.

She chaired the Main Street Committee, helping champion the Streetscape initiative and Downtown Thursdays. Wende truly loved her Owatonna community. Her interests included cats, reading, gardening, cooking, and movies, but most of all, she was an excellent mother, wife, and friend.

She is survived by Kevin, her husband of 31 years; children, Andrea Oyloe and Marcus (Emma) Oyloe; parents, and brother, Zayen “Dave” (Jamie) Krause.

She was preceded in death by Grandpa and Grandma Arlene and Kenneth Richards.

Friends may greet the family on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at the Owatonna Elks, 126 E. Vine St., Owatonna, from 5 until 9 p.m. There will be a Celebration of Wende’s Life at 5:30 p.m., where friends and family will have an opportunity to share memories.

Interment will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Owatonna upon the completion of medical research, as Wende donated her body to the Mayo Clinic Anatomical Bequest Program.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to Steele County Humane Society, P.O. Box 220

Owatonna, MN 55060.

For more information or to leave an online condolence message, go to www.megercares.com.