Annella K. “Nel” (Rennie) Pfannenstein, 96, St. Joseph

June 2, 1929 – September 3, 2025

Annella “Nel” (Rennie) Pfannenstein, age 96, passed away on September 3, 2025, at her home in St. Joseph. Funeral services will be held in the St. Joseph Catholic Church in St. Joseph, at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, followed by inurnment at the old cemetery next to her husband Dave. Visitation will commence one hour prior to the service in Heritage Hall.

Nel was born on June 2, 1929, to Joseph and Bertha (Stock) Rennie. She married David Pfannenstein on October 3, 1950, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in St. Joseph. To this union were born three daughters: Mary (Merkling), Carole (Brown) and Judy (Fugate).
After her mother’s death at 45, and after her older sister left the home, Nel assumed household duties at the farm for her father, four brothers and two younger sisters. She received her high school diploma from Technical High School at the age of 39 by taking courses at the Area Learning Center, after which she took night classes and summer classes at St. Cloud State University, earning credits for three years of college.

Nel was employed by St. Cloud School District 742 as a paraprofessional for 21 years. After her retirement from the district, she worked at Thomsen Greenhouses for 25 years. She took to retirement slowly but eventually learned to relax and enjoy life outside of work.

Nel is honored as a mom, a wife, a seeker of knowledge. She loved to read books of all genres and became a self-educated rosarian and master gardener. Over the past decade, Nel continued her passion of puzzling with her best friends Nettie, Joanne and Staci. A 2000-piece puzzle was considered a breeze. She will truly be missed.

Nel is survived by her daughters Mary (Carl) Merkling, Eagle, CO; Carole Brown, Biddeford, ME; and Judy (Jerry) Fugate, Avon, MN. She is survived by grandchildren Ben Merkling, Molly O’Brien, Hattie Ninteau and Josh Brown and great grandchildren Zac, Tyler, Nora, Avery, Amelia, Desmond and Leila. Also surviving Nel is her sister Dorothy (Harold) Roske, Collegeville, MN. She leaves behind many friends, whom she loved dearly.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband David (1997), her sisters Bernadette Roske and Mary Zabinski and brothers Lawrence, Arthur, Norbert and Jerome Rennie.