Marilyn (Mamie) Mae Boles of Hayward, Wis., and formerly of River Falls, Wis. and Bloomington, Minn., died Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. She was 93 years old.
She was born in Pierce County, Wis., on Sept. 25, 1929, the daughter of Robert and Rose Laue of River Falls, Wis., where Marilyn was raised. She graduated from River Falls High School in 1948. Some of her fondest memories were of growing up in River Falls, where she worked as a lifeguard at the community swimming pool and an usher at the Falls Theater downtown. She attended church activities at the River Falls Congregational Church, where she became a close friend of the youth ministers there during the 1940s, “Mom and Pop” Sheldon. She loved to be referred to by her nickname – “The Flame.”
She married Dean Boles on March 28, 1953. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with their family in 2003. They had two children: Susan (Boles) Odegard of Trego, Wis., and Timothy Boles of Solon Springs, Wis. Mamie loved gardening and had many lovely flowers at the family home she and Dean purchased in 1958 in Bloomington, Minn. She was employed by the McDonald’s Corporation for many years, and she also worked Hardware Hank, both in Bloomington.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Rose Laue; her husband, Dean; and her four siblings: Sybil, Gerald, Richard and Barbara.
She is survived by her daughter, Susan, and her husband, Larry, of Trego; her son, Timothy and his wife, Cindy, of Solon Springs; four grandchildren: Jeremy Odegard and his wife, Teri, of River Falls; Kristina Odegard Geye and her husband, Hunter, of Park Ridge, Ill.; Ben Boles of Solon Springs; and Sara (Boles) Crowley and her husband, Matthew, of Barnes; six great-grandchildren: Emily and Megan Odegard of River Falls, Aria and Archer Geye of Park Ridge, Ill., and Lia and McKenna Boles of Savage, Minn.; and several other relatives and friends.
She will be remembered for her gift of laughter, her love of family and friends, her green thumb with plants of all kinds, and her adoration for the people and times she experienced in River Falls as a child, teen, and an adult. At every family gathering she would remark “Isn’t it nice to all be together?”
A Funeral Service was held at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 2023 at Bakken-Young Funeral & Cremation Services, 805 E. Division St., River Falls, WI. Visitation was also on Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment was in the Greenwood Cemetery in River Falls, Wis. Arrangements are with Bakken-Young Funeral & Cremation Services.
