Marianne was born in Kansas City, MO.  She was the youngest daughter of Wilbur and Helen Edwards.  In her youth, she enjoyed camping and fishing with her family in Minnesota.  Her brother, Howard married Elda and had 5 kids.  He built a guest ranch in the Ozarks of Missouri where he and Elda reside today.  Her sister, Helen had 4 kids and lived in Kansas City.  Helen died after complications from surgery in 1993.  Many people knew Mom's cat, Casey, but not everyone knows his history.  He was Aunt Helen's cat and needed a home after she died.  Mom couldn't resist this tiny little white kitten.  Who knew how large he would get.  Mom named him Casey after KC for Kansas City.  He became her beloved friend and was well known around the nursing home.  In honor of Mom's love of him, we will scatter their ashes together.

Marianne attended Iowa State University in Ames, IA where she met Sam Meddaugh who she later married.  They were married for 20 years and had 4 kids.  

Anne Louise - 1960
Scott Alan - 1963 (died 2 days after birth)
Mark Samuel - 1964
Lynne Elizabeth - 1968

Marianne and Sam together cared for 5 exchange students between 1973 to 1978.

Irene from Costa Rica
Blandine from France
Rafael from Chili
Antje from Germany
Dorta from Denmark

Marianne and Sam divorced in 1979 and made their way as single parents.  

Other activities that Marianne enjoyed:

She was a Campfire leader for several years and in my opinion, was a great leader.  She made Campfire a lot of fun and had a positive influence on many young girls.

She was always very active with her church and attended St. Mary's in St. Paul until 1969 and St. James in Minneapolis from 1969 to 1982.

Due to health issues, she moved the family to Colorado in 1982 where the dry conditions helped with her arthritis.  She loved the sunshine and heat and adored the mountains.  She lived in Colorado Springs for a year and in and around Denver for about 8 years.  While in Denver, she attended Christ Church and worked at the University of Denver in the Hotel and Restaurant Management department.  While there we enjoyed many DU hockey games as well as our beloved Broncos.  We also enjoyed camping in the mountains and of course, lots of shopping, whether we bought things or not.

While living in Colorado, Marianne became a Grandma as Mark's first 2 daughters were born; Megan (1990) and Ashley (1992).  Marianne then returned to MN to be closer to family and was blessed with a 3rd grandddaughter; Lauren (1996).  She worked for a while in retail, but then quit to focus on taking care of her grandchildren while their parents worked.  She still loved camping and fishing during this time, but eventually dementia took hold and life became more difficult.  She became a resident of the Episcopal Church Home in 2004, where she resided until her death.  During this time she became  grandma again with her grandson, Dylan (2007).  More family was added as Anne married and Mark remarried.  She loved all of her new family members.   She remained very active for several years.  She loved to sew and made spending money by doing simple repairs for residents and staff.  She loved her weekly art class and completed several paintings for family and friends as well as those hanging in the nursing home.  She joined the Red Hatters and loved the trips to Walmart and days she got to go fishing.  

Her grandchildren were always a special source of pride for her.  She was so excited to welcome each one into the family and had a special mental acuity for the youngest two, Dylan, age 6, and her first great-grandson, Hunter, age 10 months.  Even when memories of her children's birthdays were fading, she never forgot these two young boys.  The amazing thing is that she only met Hunter once, but she knew exactly who he was whether seeing him in person or hearing stories about him.  Dylan was like a celebrity at the nursing home from the countless photos that Grandma shared.  I've often heard, "oh, that's Marianne's boy" as we walked by.  Even if I didn't know them, they knew us.  She loved all of her kids and grandkids so much.

That was mom.  Always sharing who her family is and sharing her house with others.  She struggled as a single parent and later on in life and she never really got over the loss of her son, Scott.  But, despite that, her number one focus was always her kids and her grandkids and making them happy.  She had more love in her heart than any person I've known and she accepted everyone.  Her kindness inspires me.

Lynne