Maxine Juliana Richie

Maxine Juliana Richie (nee Morris) of Duluth, Minnesota, dearly beloved mom, friend and family member to many, passed away peacefully on the 7th November, 2025. Maxine, fondly known as Maxi to all who loved her, was born in Duluth on the 13th November 1940 to her parents Anne Melvina Carr and Theodore Joseph Morris. She moved to Maplewood, New Jersey as a child spending her formative years there with her stepmom Barbara Morris and her father Ted, and then moved to New York City, NY after graduating high school, where she married Rene Roux in 1962 and had two daughters. Maxi moved to South Africa in 1968 with Rene, had a third daughter and lived a rich life there for 26 years. She worked in South Africa as the manager of a fabric store where she used her creative talent to order beautiful fabrics and help customers with all their sewing needs. She also worked for many years as a Pharmacy Technician during which time she made most of her dearest friends. Later on, she worked as a showroom manager and designer for a well-known furniture company. When she returned to Duluth in her later years, she married Roger Richie in 1996. She worked for Clarins where she enjoyed helping women with skin care products, using her artistic eye to make women look beautiful with her excellent make up skills.

Maxi had many creative talents. She had a lifelong love of art, music and theater, and she loved to draw and paint in watercolor. She also had a gift for writing poetry and flower arranging and no matter where she lived, she created beauty all around her, especially in her homes where her talent for decorating was obvious. She also was an excellent sewer in her lifetime and sewed beautiful clothing as well as drapery, tablecloths and pillow cases for her home. Maxi was also well known for her delicious food and amazing cooking skills. In her younger years she also made beautiful decoupage wall art. In addition, she loved to go antiquing, garden, read a great novel and watch a good movie.

Maxi had a special ability to touch peoples' hearts by being able to engage and draw people in with her warm and loving spirit. She was vibrant, full of energy, and always ready to have fun and embrace life and people. She valued kindness and connection, and loved to put a smile on someone's face. Her remarkable resilience, strength and sense of humor were qualities that brought her through many difficult life circumstances. The light throughout Maxi's life however, was always the deep abiding love she had for her family, especially her three daughters and the times that she spent with them.

Maxi was preceded in death by her parents, her half-brother John Glibota and many aunts, uncles and cousins from her extended family. She is survived by her half-sister Patti Schuler (Mike Schuler), her daughters Gillian Smits (Rik Prechtl), Caryn Gerber Hargrove (Michael Hargrove) and Lauren Strauss. She is also survived by her grandsons Timothy Smits, Matthew Smits, Christopher Gerber, Callum Gerber, Ben Gerber, James Strauss and her granddaughter Emma Strauss, nieces Megan Schuler, Tracy Glibota Abrams, Michele Glibota and nephew Justin Schuler along with several cousins of the extended family.

Maxi was beautiful on the outside and on the inside, and her family will deeply miss her presence.

Our sincere gratitude and thanks to all the staff at Solvay Hospice House, Duluth, MN for providing such outstanding compassionate care.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, 4430 McCulloch Street, Duluth, MN, 55804 on the 22nd November 2025 at 1pm. The service will also be live streamed on YouTube for those who unable to attend in person.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Solvay Hospice House, Duluth, MN in Maxi's memory.