The fourth child and first daughter of Valentine George Schaaf (1868-1940) and Caroline Elizabeth (Carrie) Jordan Schaaf (1875-1967), Marie was raised on farms in Murdock and Dublin, Swift Co. MN.

On New Year's Day 1920, she married Einer Carl Johansen (1898-1969) in Minneapolis, MN. Einer, born 26 April 1898 in Denmark, had emigrated as a child, on 14 March 1908, and his family settled in Iowa. Marie and Einer had five children: John Einer (1920-1986), Virginia Marie Haynes (1922-2009), Wallace Ralph (1924-1995), Robert Lester (1925-2005), and Kenneth Francis (1927-2011).

Marie's mother Carrie Jordan Schaaf left a memoir which includes an account of Marie's birth during a blizzard. These are Carrie's words: " We were expecting our fourth baby by then. On the 22nd of January there was no snow so we went to church in the lumber wagon. I was so proud that I had been able to fast until the 10:30 mass. My sister-in-law had wanted us to stay in town for dinner but my husband had thought we had better go home. I climbed over the big wheel of the wagon to get up in the seat. It had a spring seat in it and we thought that first wagon was really something. Well, we got home and had a very nice dinner when I began to realize I better start getting ready for the new baby. We still had the same old country doctor that scared me to death so we had Grandma Walsh come in. She was a dear old lady who many of the people used. In fact, she said she had delivered 200 babies. She and my sister-in-law went upstairs and got the boys to sleep. By 1:00 AM the new baby arrived and it was our first little girl (Marie). Everything went fine with this one and we were all thrilled with our baby girl. By morning everything had quieted down and after Grandma Walsh had taken care of me and the baby, my husband took her back into Murdock. She was going to come back each morning to take care of us but that night a blizzard struck and by Tuesday morning nobody could get to town or back so there I was with our new baby. We had three rooms downstairs - the front room, the kitchen with the stove and a bedroom with a double bed and a twin bed in it. So they took the twin bed with me in it and pushed it out by the stove and brought me a pan of water. I sat up in bed and took care of the baby and got her all fixed up, then took care of myself. Then they would push me back into the bedroom. That was the way we did it during the blizzard that lasted until Saturday. The good Lord was with us and we got along just fine with our new baby."

Marie and her husband moved to California about 1952, after raising their family in Minnesota. Einer died in Santa Barbara in 1969. Marie died three decades later; she was cremated and her ashes released in Santa Barbara, California.