Marianne Pauline Reif

Marianne's service can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/692240548

Marianne's video tribute can be viewed here: https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/R776B7H2323BLR4Q

Marianne Pauline Reif, 85, of Fargo, ND, passed away on Monday, March 14th, 2022, at Essentia Health in Fargo.

Marianne was born October 1st, 1936, in the Lake of the Woods to Emil and Martha Blasl. She was the middle child between her older brother Emil and younger brother Don. The family resided in Baudette, MN, where her father owned and operated the local bakery. While in middle school, the family moved to Casselton, ND, where she finished middle school and graduated high school. Marianne attended Wartburg University in Iowa, where she majored in Education.

After attending college, she moved to Fargo, ND, where she met and married Joseph Reif on March 15th, 1958. Marianne and Joe had five daughters: Loreen, Deb, Sandy, Cheryl, and Jennifer. Marianne was blessed with 12 grandchildren (Leah, Jimmy, Kristin, Cody, Maggie, Nathan, Laura, Shaun, Doug, Caleb, Nolan, and Peyton) and 5 great-grandchildren. She was a proud grandmother and was fondly known as granny. Each one of her grandchildren was unique and special to her.

Granny worked for many years at the Fargo Forum. She enjoyed working and seeing her colleagues every day. It took her until she was 72 years of age to finally decide to retire. Granny was an active member of First Lutheran Church for 63 years. As a little girl, her parents taught her the importance of religion, and religion continued to play a significant role throughout her life. Her church was the support she leaned upon to help guide her through all life's obstacles. Granny taught Sunday School, worked in the Sunday School office, did volunteer work for the church, and was an active member in Mary Magdelene Circle. She was very proud of teaching her children about religion and what it would do for them in their life. It was of utmost importance that all of her children were baptized and confirmed. All of her daughters grew up singing in the children's choirs. She adored watching her daughters sing in the choir during the Christmas sermons.

Granny used to say, "If I retired, what will I do to keep busy?" and with a growing family, that wasn't an issue for her. Her grandchildren kept her very busy attending all their events, such as plays, band concerts, sporting events, confirmations, and graduations. Granny never missed an event for her children and grandchildren and always had so much pride on her face!

Granny loved when the family was together and looked forward to family events. New Year's Eve used to be a quiet night for her; that all changed when her daughters turned it into family game night. She was the luckiest person at Farkel. No one could shake and have the dice fall out at the slowest pace possible as she did. Granny would score the highest points won many games! It didn't matter what we played (pit, dice doodle, spot it), she always had a good time. Later in life, her daughters were able to turn her into a bit of a traveler. Washington DC, Las Vegas, weekends at Detroit Lakes; she loved it all as long as she was with her family.

Granny was blessed with many good friends throughout her life. After retirement, she enjoyed going to lunch and dinner with friends, movies, Paradiso for virgin margaritas, crafting, garage sales, or visiting with her friends.

Granny loved flowers and gardening and would look forward to spring each year so she could plant her gardens. While out for walks or a drive, she would look at all the gardens, admire different types of flowers, and wonder what she would plant the following year. Yellow flowers were her favorite. While staying at Rosewood, her daughters kept her room full of daisies, sunflowers, daffodils, and other flowers. At one point, the nurse told her daughters she had too many flowers and to please wait to bring more!

Our hearts were broken when God called for her. We are comforted knowing she has her wings, is free of dementia, and can do all the things that were taken from her. We know her parents, who were so near and dear to her, were waiting for her at the gates of heaven to take her hand and guide her into the next chapter. We will always remember her beautiful smile. She was loved by all who knew her and was one of the kindest, most caring people with whom one could've shared a life with. We were so blessed she was our mom. We'll never forget her, and she'll always be in our hearts and thoughts. Thank you for all you gave us Granny. We can only hope to one day be the person you are.
Rest in Peace.