Jean Marie Thingelstad

Jean Marie Thingelstad obituary, Rigby, ID

Jean Marie Thingelstad

Jean Thingelstad Obituary

Visit the Eckersell Funeral Home (Eckersell Memorial Chapel) website to view the full obituary.

To view Jean's service broadcast, click HERE.

Our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, Jean Marie Thingelstad, age 89, returned peacefully to her Heavenly Father on November 23rd, 2025, surrounded by love. A devoted disciple, faithful missionary, and guardian of her family’s history, she spent her life serving others with gentle hands and a generous heart.

Jean was born on December 1st, 1935 in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Edward Anton Thingelstad and Wilma Sophia Mattson Thingelstad. Jean dedicated her days to creating beauty and comfort for those around her. She was a master of needle and thread-sewing, crocheting, hardanger smocking, and knitting with remarkable skill. Her home was filled with handmade treasures, each one crafted with patience, creativity, and deep affection. Many of her loved ones will forever cherish the blankets, quilts, and thoughtful pieces she made for them.

A devoted return missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she served a mission to the Salt Lake Family History Center. She gave her time and testimony to sharing the gospel she loved. Her passion for genealogy connected generations, ensuring that family stories, names and legacies would be honored and remembered.

Above all, Jean loved her family. She found her greatest joy in being a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, and she treated each member of her growing posterity as a personal blessing. Her kindness, humor, and unwavering faith were constant in their lives.

While we will miss her daily, we take great comfort in knowing she was filled with excitement and peace at the thought of being reunited with her dear loved ones who passed before her. Her legacy of faith, service and love will continue to guide the many hearts she touched.

She is survived by her sisters, Pat (Bill) Currie, Shirley (Arvin) Ulvild, and Marlene Thingelstad. Her children; Wendy (Gordon) McKinlay, Beverly (Grant) Allred, Bruce (Heather) Akre, Kimberly (Jeremy) Ferguson, and Cindy (Chad) Williams. She had many cherished grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Edward Anton and Wilma Sophia Marie Mattson Thingelstad. A grandson, Kade McKinlay. Brothers; Morris Thingelstad, Raymond Thingelstad and Lyle Thingelstad and Dean Thingelstad and one sister, Charlette Fjeld.

A viewing will be held, Saturday, November 29, 2025, from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in the LaBelle 4th Ward Chapel, (4223 East 528 North, Rigby, ID 83442), where family and friends are invited to gather, remember, and honor the remarkable woman she was. The funeral service will follow at 11:00 a.m. The interment will be in the Teton-Newdale Cemetery.

Her hands worked tirelessly, her heart loved endlessly, and her spirit will live on forever.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Eckersell Funeral Home (Eckersell Memorial Chapel)

101 West Main St., Rigby, ID 83442

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