Marianne was born Marianne Theresa Ruppaner on March 24 1924 in Lebanon, PA to George and Anna Ruppaner (Greshel). Her father died when she was just 2 months old. They moved back to Chicago soon after and in 1935 her mother remarried. She had 2 step sisters and a step brother from her mother’s second marriage.
She spent a lot of her childhood with her grandmother, Theresa Greshel who lived just down the street from her mother’s house in west side of Chicago.
In 1929 when she was just 5 years old she accompanied her grandmother on a trip to Yugoslavia where her grandmother had immigrated from in 1921. They crossed the Atlantic on the steamship Leviathan, docking at the port of Cherbourg France and traveling by rail to Yugoslavia. In all thy spent about 6 months abroad, what a trip that must have been for a five year old.
Marianne went to a school to learn shorthand, dictation and other clerical duties, skills which she used doing most of her working career. In recent years we had to convince her to stop using shorthand for her notes so that we could read them if we needed to.
From 1943 to May of 1945 she worked at historic Western Electric Hawthorn Works, which was at one point the largest manufacturing facility in the world. You may have seen the pay stub from 1943 in among the pictures. As it turns out my parents kept everything and I have paystubs, utility bills and tax records from the mid 40’s till the present.
Right at the end of the world war II in July 1945 she moved to Miami, FL for about 9 months where she worked at for a Army Air Forces Army Facility where they processed some of the surplus equipment from the war. While Marianne was not in the service during WWII she did do her part for the war effort as she was involved with volunteer organizations that helped entertain troops when they were on leave, both in Chicago and in Miami. She corresponded with a number of different service men stationed in Europe during and after the war. Another member of America’s greatest generation doing what they did best.
After she returned to Chicago in March of 1946 she met her future husband Victor Karg and they were in married in Chicago on June 7, 1947. They built a house in the northwest suburbs of Chicago but my dad soon wanted to get back to Minnesota so in 1952 he took a transfer with the USDA to South St. Paul. After few years in South St. Paul we moved to Eagan, then back to South St Paul, then to Cottage Grove, then New Prague and then back to South St. Paul. (yes we moved around a lot). Through all these moves Marianne was always making sure we lived in a home and not just a house.
Marianne worked on and off thru her life outside of the home. Much of the time she worked for temporary agencies so she was always working at various firms, mostly in downtown St. Paul.
In 1979 she took a permanent position with Ramsey County Veterans Services where she worked to help Veterans in the county get the services they were entitled to. One of her tasks was to read the obituary’s in the paper every day to see if any veterans has passed away so the county could reach out to the families. She continued the practice of reading to obituaries after her retirement, and reading the daily paper was part of her routine. She retired from the county in 1989.
After my dad passed away in 1995 she traveled by motor coach around the US until she was unable to keep up with the tour groups any more. She would go the Cottage Grove Senior Center for lunch and activities almost every day. During this time she also volunteered at her church helping at funerals and other events. She was a devoted Catholic and kept her faith throughout her life.
She stayed very active in her 80’s living at home until 2017 and at the age of 93 she moved to assisted living.
She passed away peaceable on June 19 2019 at the age of 95.
She always told me she wanted to live to be 100. Well mom, you didn’t quite make 100 but 95 percent is an A+ on most grading scales, so I’d have to say job well done.
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