Marian McIntire

Marian A. (Edes) McIntire died Saturday, May 24, 2008 during a brief stay at the Tri-County Hospital in Wadena. She was 101 years old. Marian was born February 19, 1907 in Boyden, Iowa to William Milton Edes and Jennie (Stanley) Edes, the sixth of their eight children. The family moved to Woodside Township, Minnesota in 1908. She graduated from Bertha High School in 1925. She also attended Minneapolis North High School for one year while living with her aunt Sadie Edes, a Presbyterian missionary, and Wadena High School for one year while living with the Becker family. She strived to finish high school so that she could achieve her goal of attending nursing school. She successfully enrolled in the Nursing Program at Abbott Hospital, graduating as a registered nurse in 1928.During her nursing education, she enjoyed caring for orphans at the Minneapolis Children's Protective Society and private duty nursing for the Dayton family. Following graduation, she returned to Bertha and married Joseph W. McIntire on August 31, 1929. They farmed with Joe's brother and his wife, Wayne and Azalia (King) McIntire, in Millerville until 1932, when they moved to a farm east of Bertha in Germania Township and close to Joe's parents, Charles and Maude (Hoover) McIntire. They moved again in 1945 to the Methodist parsonage west of Bertha when Joe became ill with heart disease as a result of rheumatic fever as an infant. He died in 1947, and Marian moved into Bertha in 1949. Marian worked at Thiel Hospital, later the Bertha Memorial Hospital, until she retired in 1973. She was the night nurse there for 19 years, attending the birth of the next generation of Bertha residents. She shared her home with her father-in-law when he became a widower in 1956, until he moved to a care center in 1971. She left Bertha in 1979 to live in the brand new east side of Humphrey Manor senior housing apartments in Wadena. In 2005 she was featured in the Wadena Journal as the last original resident of the east side. She was again featured in the Journal in 2007 in honor of her 100th birthday. She left her apartment in late 2007 to live at Fair Oaks Lodge. She was crowned Valentine Queen at Fair Oaks in 2008. Marian enjoyed good health most of her life and a great memory right to the end. Her nurse at Tri-County Hospital reported that she recited 10 stanzas of the poem St. Peter and the Parrot on the day before she died, which she had probably learned in grade school. She was a survivor of colon cancer. She had two sisters that lived past the age of 99. She was a descendent of a very early American family that came to Massachusetts in 1670 and of Augustus Edes who fought in the Civil War. She was also a relative of Benjamin Edes who owned a printing shop in Boston where the Boston Tea Party was planned. She kept in touch with many friends and relatives, writing letters almost daily before moving to Fair Oaks. She worried about family members, and she often had a premonition of who would arrive for Sunday dinner even though no special plans had been made. She made many quilts. She loved reading. She learned to play cards during retirement, even though card paying was forbidden while she was growing up, and she spent many happy hours playing cards with her neighbors at Humphrey Manor. She also loved to have visitors. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Bertha Chapter. She was preceded in death by her parents; all of her brothers and sisters: Evelyn, Everett, Ethel (Zuehlke), Hazel, George, Ralph and the youngest Wesley, who passed away just two months before her; her husband Joe; her son Charles; her daughter Vera; her granddaughter Angela; several nieces and nephews; other special relatives and many dear friends. She is survived by her children Jeanne, Stanley (Juanita), Robert (Marlys) and Allen (Mary Lou); her grandchildren Charles Joseph, Lisa, Rhoda, Robert, Jr., Wade and Sean McIntire and Michael, Patricia and Timothy Reynolds; 8 great grandchildren; her sister-in-law Helen McIntire, many nieces and nephews and further extended family. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, June 2, 2008 at the New Life Church of God in Bertha with Reverend Mark Brown officiating. Interment will be at Zion Cemetery in Bertha. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to Wadena Library or to the charity of your choice.

Marian McIntire

February 19, 1907 - May 24, 2008