IN MEMORIAM – Jo Rita Senta - Saint John's Prep

Jo Rita Senta
Wife of †Louis Senta, former Saint John’s Prep Faculty Member

Funeral services celebrating the life of Jo Rita Senta will be at 10:30 am Friday, November 3, 2023, at St. John Cantius Catholic Church, St. Cloud, for Jo Rita Senta, 90 of St. Cloud. Interment will be at Assumption Cemetery St. Cloud. Visitation is 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, November 2, 2023, at the Williams Dingmann Family Funeral in St. Cloud and after 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Church in St. Cloud.

Jo Rita Senta was born September 1, 1933, in Waverly, MN to John and Martha (Prausa) Gromotka. The youngest of eight children, Jo attended St. Mary’s Grade School and High School, graduating in 1951. As a young woman, Jo worked at Henk Drug Store in Waverly and later worked as an ammunition tester at Federal Cartridge in New Brighton, where she also resided for a time.

On November 3, 1951, Jo married Louis Senta at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in New Brighton. The couple moved to St. Cloud as Louie began his teaching career at Saint John’s Prep School. Jo began working at the St. Cloud Times before dedicating her time to raising her four children. When her children were grown, Jo began a 16-year career at Dayton’s Department Store in St. Cloud, where she worked in customer service and shared her talent as a gift wrapper.

Over the years, Jo enjoyed working with ceramics, tending to flower gardens, refinishing furniture, taking family train trips to California, playing cards, cooking, baking, canning, and sipping crème de Menthe. Jo was a strong believer in recycling and in wasting nothing. Faith was an important aspect of Jo’s life, and she shared her time with her faith community as a member of St. John Cantius Catholic Church in St. Cloud. She was a member of the St. Anthony Funeral Choir and a volunteer for parish funeral luncheons.Holidays were significant to Jo. She is remembered for making Christmas cookies and candies, fruit cake, sweet marshmallow salads and fizzy fruit punch. Jo’s gift wrapping skills and incredible taste in gift wrap never went unnoticed at Christmastime, birthdays, and other special occasions. She also was known for creating mint candy flowers for weddings and baby showers. Her grandchildren hold fond memories of “Grandma Jo” including sleepovers, shopping trips, frosties and fries at Wendy’s, and sipping on limeade on the back steps. Jo enjoyed keeping an eye on her neighborhood, reading newspapers in her sunroom, drinking coffee, having a smoke at her kitchen table and of course, always enjoying a can of coke, one sip at a time.

Jo is survived by her children; Mary Jo Koenig, St. Cloud; Nancy (Tom) Golden, St. Cloud; Rob (Sue) Senta, St. Michael; and Janel (Phil) Silverstein, Fontana, CA. Grandchildren; Julie (Larry) Braga, Jennifer Koenig, Erik (Shannon) Koenig, Becky (Darrell) Hiltner, Bryan (Kari) Koenig, Elizabeth (Tim) Vos, Sara (Eric) Bucher, Nathan (Christine) Golden, Robert (Rhianna) Golden, Emily (Vaughn) Loomis, Van ( Ashley) Syverud, Myles Syverud, Ally Syverud and Ty Syverud; 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

She is preceded in death by her parents; husband Louis in 2003; siblings; George Gromotka, Mabel Bell, Ed Gromotka, Alice Bartholomew, Marge Prickett, Mary Earl, Richard Gromotka; son-in-law Mark Syverud; and great-grandson, Nicholas Koenig.

Jo approached life with an unfiltered opinion-bold, set in her ways, generous, thoughtful and funny. While she often left us speechless by her sharp insight, she must know this: we loved her unconditionally: she was enough for us and she was everything God intended her to be.

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