For more than 100 years, Marie graced this earth before passing to eternal life with her beloved husband Mitchell on June 18, 2008.
Born to Hobart and Elizabeth (Caouette) Eldred on November 22, 1907 in Grey Eagle, MN, Marie led a remarkable life filled with service to others. She graduated from Bemidji State College in 1927 and then taught in several country schools, in Grand Rapids, MN and in Battle Creek, MI during WWII where her husband was with the American Red Cross. After the war, their family moved to Minneapolis where Marie was employed by the Minneapolis Public Schools as a homebound teacher and then as the primary teacher at Elizabeth Kenny Institute during the polio epidemics of the 40's and 50's. Well into her fifties, she decided to go back to school and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in special education. Always interested in the health and well being of children, Marie was a trustee of Minneapolis Children's Hospital where she was the founding President of the Grandparent's Club. She studied calligraphy with Donald Jackson, the Scribe to Queen Elizabeth and often used those skills as a fundraising tool for various charities.
Dubbed "The Crib Witch" by a card-playing friend, she loved playing cribbage, bridge and other card games. She traveled extensively with family and friends, always learning and bringing joy to others.
A medical clinic is being built in her name in the slums of Lima, Peru, where children at major risk will be able to receive health care and nutritious meals. On her 100th birthday last Thanksgiving Day, R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, declared that day as "Marie Smilanich Day in the City of Minneapolis" as a tribute to her and her care of children.
She authored several books including "Forget-Me-Nots" the story of her remarkable life. Marie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Mitchell; sisters, Eva Fredricks, Florence Bender, Vivian Reitan and Valentine Mitchell, as well as brothers Ray & Pete Eldred. She is survived by son, Mitchell Eldred Smilanich (Sue) of Grand Rapids, MN. Her home was with daughter, Mary (Alex) Batinich of Tower, MN, where she was at the time of her death. Daughter Dorothy Ramsdell and her husband, Rob, of Glenbrook, NV, also survive and mourn her death.
Services will be held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Tower, MN, on Saturday, June 21 at 10 am and at Hope Lutheran Church in Northome MN at 2 pm the same day with Dean Spenser Simrill of St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis officiating at both services. Interment will be in the Ardenhurst Township Cemetery near the country school where both Marie and Mitch taught.
- Family services provided by Bauman Vermilion, A Bauman Family Funeral Home in Tower.
Born to Hobart and Elizabeth (Caouette) Eldred on November 22, 1907 in Grey Eagle, MN, Marie led a remarkable life filled with service to others. She graduated from Bemidji State College in 1927 and then taught in several country schools, in Grand Rapids, MN and in Battle Creek, MI during WWII where her husband was with the American Red Cross. After the war, their family moved to Minneapolis where Marie was employed by the Minneapolis Public Schools as a homebound teacher and then as the primary teacher at Elizabeth Kenny Institute during the polio epidemics of the 40's and 50's. Well into her fifties, she decided to go back to school and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in special education. Always interested in the health and well being of children, Marie was a trustee of Minneapolis Children's Hospital where she was the founding President of the Grandparent's Club. She studied calligraphy with Donald Jackson, the Scribe to Queen Elizabeth and often used those skills as a fundraising tool for various charities.
Dubbed "The Crib Witch" by a card-playing friend, she loved playing cribbage, bridge and other card games. She traveled extensively with family and friends, always learning and bringing joy to others.
A medical clinic is being built in her name in the slums of Lima, Peru, where children at major risk will be able to receive health care and nutritious meals. On her 100th birthday last Thanksgiving Day, R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, declared that day as "Marie Smilanich Day in the City of Minneapolis" as a tribute to her and her care of children.
She authored several books including "Forget-Me-Nots" the story of her remarkable life. Marie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Mitchell; sisters, Eva Fredricks, Florence Bender, Vivian Reitan and Valentine Mitchell, as well as brothers Ray & Pete Eldred. She is survived by son, Mitchell Eldred Smilanich (Sue) of Grand Rapids, MN. Her home was with daughter, Mary (Alex) Batinich of Tower, MN, where she was at the time of her death. Daughter Dorothy Ramsdell and her husband, Rob, of Glenbrook, NV, also survive and mourn her death.
Services will be held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Tower, MN, on Saturday, June 21 at 10 am and at Hope Lutheran Church in Northome MN at 2 pm the same day with Dean Spenser Simrill of St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis officiating at both services. Interment will be in the Ardenhurst Township Cemetery near the country school where both Marie and Mitch taught.
- Family services provided by Bauman Vermilion, A Bauman Family Funeral Home in Tower.
For more than 100 years, Marie graced this earth before passing to eternal life with her beloved husband Mitchell on June 18, 2008.
Born to Hobart and Elizabeth (Caouette) Eldred on November 22, 1907 in Grey Eagle, MN, Marie led a remarkable life filled with service to others. She graduated from Bemidji State College in 1927 and then taught in several country schools, in Grand Rapids, MN and in Battle Creek, MI during WWII where her husband was with the American Red Cross. After the war, their family moved to Minneapolis where Marie was employed by the Minneapolis Public Schools as a homebound teacher and then as the primary teacher at Elizabeth Kenny Institute during the polio epidemics of the 40's and 50's. Well into her fifties, she decided to go back to school and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in special education. Always interested in the health and well being of children, Marie was a trustee of Minneapolis Children's Hospital where she was the founding President of the Grandparent's Club. She studied calligraphy with Donald Jackson, the Scribe to Queen Elizabeth and often used those skills as a fundraising tool for various charities.
Dubbed "The Crib Witch" by a card-playing friend, she loved playing cribbage, bridge and other card games. She traveled extensively with family and friends, always learning and bringing joy to others.
A medical clinic is being built in her name in the slums of Lima, Peru, where children at major risk will be able to receive health care and nutritious meals. On her 100th birthday last Thanksgiving Day, R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, declared that day as "Marie Smilanich Day in the City of Minneapolis" as a tribute to her and her care of children.
She authored several books including "Forget-Me-Nots" the story of her remarkable life. Marie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Mitchell; sisters, Eva Fredricks, Florence Bender, Vivian Reitan and Valentine Mitchell, as well as brothers Ray & Pete Eldred. She is survived by son, Mitchell Eldred Smilanich (Sue) of Grand Rapids, MN. Her home was with daughter, Mary (Alex) Batinich of Tower, MN, where she was at the time of her death. Daughter Dorothy Ramsdell and her husband, Rob, of Glenbrook, NV, also survive and mourn her death.
Services will be held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Tower, MN, on Saturday, June 21 at 10 am and at Hope Lutheran Church in Northome MN at 2 pm the same day with Dean Spenser Simrill of St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis officiating at both services. Interment will be in the Ardenhurst Township Cemetery near the country school where both Marie and Mitch taught.
- Family services provided by Bauman Vermilion, A Bauman Family Funeral Home in Tower.
Born to Hobart and Elizabeth (Caouette) Eldred on November 22, 1907 in Grey Eagle, MN, Marie led a remarkable life filled with service to others. She graduated from Bemidji State College in 1927 and then taught in several country schools, in Grand Rapids, MN and in Battle Creek, MI during WWII where her husband was with the American Red Cross. After the war, their family moved to Minneapolis where Marie was employed by the Minneapolis Public Schools as a homebound teacher and then as the primary teacher at Elizabeth Kenny Institute during the polio epidemics of the 40's and 50's. Well into her fifties, she decided to go back to school and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in special education. Always interested in the health and well being of children, Marie was a trustee of Minneapolis Children's Hospital where she was the founding President of the Grandparent's Club. She studied calligraphy with Donald Jackson, the Scribe to Queen Elizabeth and often used those skills as a fundraising tool for various charities.
Dubbed "The Crib Witch" by a card-playing friend, she loved playing cribbage, bridge and other card games. She traveled extensively with family and friends, always learning and bringing joy to others.
A medical clinic is being built in her name in the slums of Lima, Peru, where children at major risk will be able to receive health care and nutritious meals. On her 100th birthday last Thanksgiving Day, R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, declared that day as "Marie Smilanich Day in the City of Minneapolis" as a tribute to her and her care of children.
She authored several books including "Forget-Me-Nots" the story of her remarkable life. Marie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Mitchell; sisters, Eva Fredricks, Florence Bender, Vivian Reitan and Valentine Mitchell, as well as brothers Ray & Pete Eldred. She is survived by son, Mitchell Eldred Smilanich (Sue) of Grand Rapids, MN. Her home was with daughter, Mary (Alex) Batinich of Tower, MN, where she was at the time of her death. Daughter Dorothy Ramsdell and her husband, Rob, of Glenbrook, NV, also survive and mourn her death.
Services will be held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Tower, MN, on Saturday, June 21 at 10 am and at Hope Lutheran Church in Northome MN at 2 pm the same day with Dean Spenser Simrill of St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis officiating at both services. Interment will be in the Ardenhurst Township Cemetery near the country school where both Marie and Mitch taught.
- Family services provided by Bauman Vermilion, A Bauman Family Funeral Home in Tower.
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