The Sidney Sun-Telegraph - Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Mary Jane Echternach passed away February 21, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 98. She was born Mary Jane Taylor, January 30, 1924 in Boone, Iowa the second child of Isreal Evans and Grace (Parrish) Taylor.

Raised in Boone, she married local Boone boy, Melvin Richard (Dick) Downey, December 9, 1944. After receiving her registered nursing degree from Broadlawns Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa in 1945 she took advanced OB/GYN training at the University of Chicago before serving her country in the Cadet Nurses Corps at the Norfolk Marine Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia.

After WWII she re...