October 5, 1927 to October 30, 2023

Nena (Hermena) Pinter passed away on October 30th, 2023, just 3 weeks after her 96th birthday.

Nena was born the oldest of 6 children in Paris, Arkansas and spent her childhood helping out on the family farm where she spent most summers picking cotton. She left home early to attend St. Scholastica high school which she graduated from in 1945. She easily passed the Civil Service exam and promptly moved to Washington DC for a government job which she held until marrying her husband, Carl Pinter, whom she met while on a visit home to Arkansas.

They were married in August of 1949 and together raised 9 children, mostly in California after a job transfer brought them to Grass Valley in 1963. She ran a daycare business from her home and after many years of many kids in the house, she went to work at the newly opened Safeway where she enjoyed many years in the bakery department. A work-related injury brought her back to government work at Tahoe National Forest, where she finished as she started her working years.

Her retirement years were happily spent revolving around family and church (St. Patrick’s), where she served as an organist, a reader, and a member of ministry of praise. More recently, as dementia took away many of her memories, she was still always happy and never forgot her family.

Some of our fondest memories took place in her kitchen or out in the garden with her. She loved cooking for her family and welcomed many friends, family, and college roommates over the years to stay for dinner or a long holiday weekend. She was a talented seamstress always sewing clothes for her girls and eventually their beautiful wedding gowns. She gifted her entire family with incredible patience, love, and a great sense of humor. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Nena is survived by her children Mike (Ruth), John (Charlotte), Ann (Ed) Driemeyer, Marilyn (Carl) Gordon, Mark, Kay (Roy) Siegfried, Jim (Martha), Sue (Jeff) Bender, and Joe (Cathy), 16 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Also her siblings Mary Lutz, Bob (Dorothy) Werner, Betty Ward, and Gene (Earlene) Werner, sisters-in-law Helen Nabholz and Vangie Werner. She was preceded in death by her parents, Herman and Elizabeth Werner, her brother John, two sisters-in-law, eight brothers-in-law, and her husband of 61 years, Carl.

A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:30 am on Friday, April 5, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Grass Valley. Reception immediately following in the church hall with a private interment at a later date.