Marie Anna Knaphus (1923-2008)

KNAPHUS, GJENVICK, SEEFERT, RAINES, BOVENMYER

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 9/24/2008 at 13:36:30

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Wednesday, September 24, 2008.

Marie Anna Knaphus, 85, died Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008, at Israel Family Hospice House in Ames following a sudden illness.

The memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Ames. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, in McCallsburg Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at Bethany Lutheran Church in McCallsburg.

Marie was born May 27, 1923, in Minneapolis, the daughter of Ludvig and Clara (Seefert) Gjenvick. She graduated from North High in Minneapolis and from Augsburg College with a bachelor's degree in education. After teaching history and science in Ortonville, Minn., she moved to Cedar Falls to work in campus ministry. There she met George Knaphus, and they were married in 1947. In 1949, they moved to the Knaphus family farm in McCallsburg when George began graduate study at Iowa State.

After her children were all in school, she worked as a high school teacher and librarian at NESCO High School in Zearing. She worked as librarian at Nevada Schools from 1968 until she retired in 1986.

For 46 years, she directed the choir at Bethany Lutheran Church in McCallsburg and also organized community choirs. She wrote a history of Bethany Lutheran Church and several family history books. She was active in the American Legion Auxiliary and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, an honorary for women educators. She served on the Bethany Manor Board of Directors and the Heartland Senior Services Board.

Marie and George moved to Green Hills Retirement Community in 1998, where she lived until her death.

She is survived by one brother, Lawrence Gjenvick, of New Berlin, Wis.; four children, Kris (Kitty) Knaphus, of Cascade, Mont., Debbie (Tom) Raines, of Knoxville, Tenn., Dawn (Dave) Bovenmyer, of Ames, and Dan Knaphus, of McCallsburg; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren and two on the way.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband in 2000; and one brother, Benjamin Gjenvick.

Fredregill Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

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