Marie M. Nibbe

ORMSBY: A Funeral Service for Marie M. Nibbe, 105, of Ormsby, Minnesota will be 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Galena Township, rural Ormsby, Minnesota. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery in St. James, Minnesota.
Marie was called to her eternal rest on Thursday afternoon, April 18, 2024 at the home of her daughters in New Hope, Minnesota. Visitation will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the church in rural Ormsby, Minnesota.
Marie Minnie Blom was born on May 27, 1918 to Aldrich and Anna (Alter) Blom in Iowa. The family moved to Minnesota around 1921 and she lived on the family farm with her parents and 9 brothers and 2 sisters. They farmed with horses and picked corn by hand. Marie could often be seen driving their team of horses to and from the fields. They never had electricity on the farm and they only had running water "if you ran with it". She was baking wonderful bread by the age of 12 and continued to love baking all her life. She graduated 8th grade from a one room schoolhouse she walked to with her siblings. She was confirmed and she worked for local neighbors as a helper and babysitter until she met Ewald Nibbe while working for his mother and stepfather. They were married on June 20, 1937 at Butterfield, Minnesota and moved to Ormsby where Ewald had grown up and worked as a carpenter. They bought a vacant church in Ormsby in 1947 and turned it into a home and raised 5 children there. Marie loved gardening, baking and hosting family gatherings. She always welcomed unexpected company and could put a meal together "faster then anyone around". You never left Ewald and Marie's home hungry. Marie worked outside the home as a janitor for the old Ormsby 2 room school, waitress and cook at the Townhouse in Ormsby and cook at the new Ormsby Elementary School. She was very active in Grace Lutheran Church in Ormsby, serving as treasurer for the Ladies Aid for over 30 years. She belonged to many clubs through the years including Square dance club, booster club, birthday club, card club and, her favorite, garden club (Heavenly Blue Climbers).
Marie was happiest when she was working in her garden and tended a wonderful array of flowers and vegetables in a very large garden well into her 90's. She enjoyed traveling to see her family. Ewald and Marie camped cross-country to Spokane, Washington twice to visit her sister and took the train to Spokane and to California to visit their son. They made many trips to Montana to see their grandchildren.
Marie lost Ewald in 1996 but continued to travel on her own and with family to California to spend the winter with her son and out to Montana. She went on an Alaska cruise with some of her family for her 90 birthday in 2008. It was one of the great highlights of her life and a wonderful memory. Marie maintained her home in Ormsby until 2018 when, after falling and breaking her pelvis, she decided to sell the family home and move in with her daughter in Minneapolis. She continued to be active in much smaller patio garden there and went for walks in the neighborhood, made fleece blankets for the Linus Project, read on her Nook and made the favorite family cookies for Christmas. Although at 105 her traveling days were over, she still loved to go to the Arboretum, to feel like she was out in the country again, and to get those yummy apple cider donuts in the fall.
She is survived by her sons, Ted (Arlene) Nibbe of Mankato, Minnesota, Steven Nibbe in California, Vernon (Rose) Nibbe in Montana and Keith (Cheryle) Nibbe in Minneapolis; daughter, Sharon Nibbe in Minneapolis, Minnesota; grandson, Mark (Tammy) Nibbe of Mankato, Dale (Jessica) Nibbe in Montana; granddaughters, Lisa Bloom of Florida, Brenda Nibbe of Arizona, Jennifer Wampler of Arizona, and 8 great grandchildren and many step grandchildren and great grandchildren; half sister, Darlene (Bill) Baltus of Grand Rapids, Minnesota and other relatives.
Marie was preceded in death by her parents, Aldrich and Anna Blom; husband, Ewald Nibbe; 11 brothers and sisters and many nieces and nephews and many friends.