Funeral services for Marvel Koehntop of Morris will be Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at Faith Lutheran Church in Morris, with Reverend Dell Sanderson officiating. Visitation will be Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris and for one hour prior to services at the church on Tuesday. Burial will be in Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Swan Lake Township. Marvel Lorraine Block Koehntop was born on the Block family farm in Swan Lake Township, Stevens County on October 18, 1926, the daughter of Reinhart and Mary (Hagen) Block. She was baptized into the Christian faith on November 21, 1926 by the Rev. Gustav Pilgrim at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Swan Lake Township. Marvel was confirmed at the same church on June 23, 1940 by the Rev. Fred Meske. She attended grade school in District 40, graduating in 1940. She graduated from the Cyrus High School in 1944. She then attended the Ancker Hospital School of Nursing of St. Paul, graduating as a Registered Nurse in 1947. During this three-year program, she served her country in the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. After graduating, she worked as a Registered Nurse for one year on the men's mental health ward of the Ancker Hospital. On October 30, 1948, Marvel was united in Holy Matrimony with Dorance Koehntop at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church by the Rev. W. O. Langholtz. To this union were born two children – a daughter, Doraine and a son, Randy. The couple farmed the Koehntop family farm until 1957, when they moved to their current farm in Framnas Township. Marvel and Dorance belonged to the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Swan Lake Township from the time they were baptized until they joined the Peace Lutheran Church in Morris in 1959. Marvel was an avid student of the Bible. She was always active in the "Ladies' Aid", serving as an officer on the local, conference and synod levels. Marvel loved the animals on the farm, raising chickens and helping with the hogs and cattle; She was "in her glory" when she worked in the horse barn with Randy's Appaloosas. As an avid gardener, she raised vegetables, flowers, indoors and out; and fed the wild birds the year around. She liked all sports and enjoyed acting in plays. Dorance and Marvel enjoyed several trips together, the last one in June, 1990 to Rome, Israel, and the Passion Play in Oberammergau in Germany. Marvel died on Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at the Minnewaska Lutheran Home in Starbuck, MN, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease and its complications. She lived to 88 years. She is survived by son, Randy of Morris; daughter, Doraine and her husband, Randal Graff of Austin, MN; two grandchildren, Amber Marie Collins (Jesse) of Arcadia, WI and Nathan Randal Graff of Fairbanks, AK; and many nephews, nieces, cousins; and canine friend, Dusty Rose. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dorance in 1991; her brother, Gorden Block in 2006; her parents and all of her brothers and sisters-in-law. She was the last person in her generation in the Koehntop family. Marvel will be laid to rest in the Emmanuel Cemetery beside her husband, Dorance. There they will remain until the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris is in charge of the arrangements. The family prefers memorials to Faith Lutheran Church in Morris or the Minnewaska Lutheran Home in Starbuck.