Marilewise Harwig

Marie is survived and missed by her loving husband of 75 years Anton (Tony) H. Harwig. Her extended family includes her children: Dan Harwig, Tim Harwig (Kate Leisses), Kathy (Joe) Fremer, Robert Harwig, her beloved sister, Audrey Aabey (Mike Tredera), and their son Jim Coston. She is further survived by grandchildren: Joshua Fremer (Sarah Anderson), Noah (Mary) Fremer and her great grandchildren Logan Fremer and Kaylee Fremer. She loved her aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews including Tracy (Steve) Hammond, Eva Sanford, and Nancy (Pat) Fleming.

She was preceded in death by her parents Arne and Lillie Aabey; her son, Thomas (Zack) Harwig, brother Arne Gerald (Jerry) and his wife Lynn Aabey and their son Edward Aabey.

Marie was always full of life and enjoyed many things. She studied physical education in college and loved taking her children for long walks. She went to school in Panama while her father Arne worked on the Panama Canal. She found the biodiversity of the area fascinating. Marie met her cherished husband Tony while working at Laswell’s Ice Cream on Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. After dinner they always shared ice cream together. (There was always room for ice cream!)

One of Marie’s favorite memories was her and Tony building two houses together with their sons. One in Flagler Beach, Fl and later, one in Woodland Park, CO where she resided till her passing. She enjoyed traveling with Tony every year to see her family and help them with their home and business improvement projects. A favorite family story of her took place during the early days of their marriage. Marie and Tony bought an old barn and were tearing it down to recycle lumber that would be used to build a house - even then they dreamed of building their own home. Mom, enormously pregnant with their daughter Kathy, was in the hayloft tossing boards down to a waiting Tony when a rotten board in the loft collapsed, dropping mom through the opening and catching her by the belly. A startled Tony looked up to see her skinny legs swinging from the rafter. They laughed about it then and for the next 50 years.

Marie adored animals of all kinds and enjoyed her yearly trip to Yellowstone Nat’l Park. She was an avid photographer and Tony happily carried all her equipment for her. She loved feeding her ‘hummers’ and waited with anticipation for them to announce their return, by flying by her bedroom window. It was Marie’s dream to visit her extended family in Norway whom she loved dearly but was never able to go.

Marie enjoyed baking, especially Christmas cookies. Everyone in the family relished receiving a tin of her freshly baked cookies and date nut bread.

The family would like to thank Tom Fritz for always being there, all the E.MT.’s and paramedics from the Utte Pass ambulance and Mountain Communities Volunteer Fire Department. You are a kind group of professionals and we will be ever grateful for your compassionate care of our wife, mother and grandmother. A special thanks also to Terry Lamb a dear family friend who is always willing to lend a helping hand, and to the many people who kept her in their thoughts and prayers.

The family will hold a private ceremony at Memorial Gardens in Colorado Springs.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to:

Mountain Communities Volunteer Fire Department (MCVFD).

PO Box 7278

Woodland Park, CO 80863

Donate — MCVFD

The World Wildlife Fund - Endangered Species Conservation

https://www.worldwildlife.org/