Funeral Service
Mount Olivet Lutheran Church-
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Email Details
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5025 Knox Avenue South
Minneapolis, -
Visitation one hour prior to the service.
Interment Fort Snelling Nationnal Cemetery.
Marilyn Mae Gustafson
December 31, 1927 — June 29, 2021
Marilyn Mae Gustafson
Marilyn Mae (Newton) Gustafson, 93 years old. Our beloved mother died peacefully at her daughter’s home with family at her bedside on June 29, 2021. She survived Covid one year before, but it further damaged her lungs and she died of respiratory failure.
Marilyn was born on December 31, 1927, in Webster, WI, to Barney and Effie Newton. She grew up on the farm and knew all about gardening, making her own clothes, and cooking/baking food from scratch. She learned how to play the piano and played the hymns every Sunday at her family’s small country church. She graduated from Webster High School in 1945. She moved to “The Big City”, Minneapolis, and worked as a secretary for the Railroad. She married Raymond Gustafson on August 29, 1952. When her first child was born, she became a stay-at-home Mom doing daycare. Eventually she went back to work and spent many years working as a secretary in Honeywell’s Microswitch Department.
She was a wonderful and patient mother to her three children. Her beautiful smile and laugh filled the room. She was happy to teach us so many things including cooking, kindness, sewing, going to church, and serving others. Her motto was: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”. Her mother moved in with the family in 1974 and everyone got along. Together they taught even more. What was especially fun was making lefse. Our grandmother made it without a recipe, and she knew just how much flour to add by the feel of the dough. Marilyn wanted the recipe so she could pass it down to future generations. So she watched and measured and finally got the perfect recipe. It became a family tradition to make lefse every year before Christmas. Now even her great grandchildren love to make it. She liked to crochet afgans, do cross-stitching on dish towels, and was forever darning socks. She even found time to read books and magazines.
With her farming background, it was no surprise that she had to have vegetable and flower gardens at home. For many years, she kept a beautiful rose garden. Together with Ray, they maintained a raspberry patch. They picked baskets and baskets of raspberries and Marilyn made raspberry jam and jelly. In June, she and Ray would go strawberry picking at a nearby strawberry farm. Some years they picked 70 pounds of berries! She would clean and freeze them and they would enjoy strawberry shortcake all year long. She also grew rhubarb. Her rhubarb cake was so delicious, whenever she made it and took it to an event not one piece was left over. She loved baking cakes and when there was any occasion for her to bring any food anywhere, she would say, “I’ll bring a cake.” She must have made thousands of cakes in her lifetime, always moist and delicious.
She had a small garden at their summer cabin near Big Lake, MN, as well as plum trees and she of course made plum jelly. Even at their winter home in Donna, Texas, they had grapefruit and orange trees in their yard and they enjoyed freshly picked fruit everyday. She often said she was never bored, there was always something to do. The things she found to do were done with skill and thoughtful care. She loved to entertain and was a fabulous cook. Not gourmet food, but good old fashioned meat and potatoes. Her greatest joy was in making others happy. She was a volunteer for many years at Fairview Southdale Hospital as the coffee cart lady. She loved to travel and she and Ray traveled all over the United States.
Marilyn prayed. She prayed everyday for family and friends who had difficulties or sicknesses. She prayed The Lord’s Prayer every night before she went to sleep. She taught her children the importance of prayer. We know she is now in heaven with her Lord Jesus. She was a member of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church for more than 65 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her dear husband Raymond who died 13 months earlier due to complications of Covid 19, two sisters Leona (Harold) Brooke and Bernice (Roland) Spenst, and son-in-law Richard Paige. She is survived by daughters Joan Fenton, St Louis Park MN, and Janice Paige (Don Wagner), Brandon MN, and son James (Miah) Gustafson, Arlington TX; grandchildren Kimberly Fenton (Scott Dritz), Vincent (Graciela) Fenton, Deborah Fenton (Jon Hennessy), Stacy (Charles) Wagner, great grandchildren Sean, Octavio, Santiago, Bethany, Maxwell, Isabelle, and Raina, as well as many nieces, nephews, and friends. Special thanks to Nurse Dayna and the Fairview Hospice team, and to Katrina from Legacy Home Care. Extra special thanks to Anna, CNP, Bluestone Physician Services, who cared for Marilyn and Ray with dedication and love for six years.
Funeral will be held July 19, 2021, 10 a.m., at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church with lunch following. Burial at Fort Snelling at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to American Lung Association, 490 Concordia Ave, St Paul MN 55103.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Marilyn Mae Gustafson, please visit our flower store.
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