Marie Seeger passed away on July 5, 2023, at the age of 101.
Funeral service for Marie will be held at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at Bethany Lutheran Church in Red Lake Falls, MN with Reverend Jonathan Dodson officiating. Burial will be held at Oak Grove Cemetery near Red Lake Falls. 
Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church on Tuesday.
Marie Johanna Waldal was born to Alfred and Rose (Thoreson) Waldal on August 11, 1921 in the small farmhouse where her parents raised 10 children in rural Plummer, Minnesota. Marie was baptized into the Lutheran faith on September 4, 1921 and confirmed at the Immanual Lutheran country church. She attended Cloverland Country School, District 214 in Emardville Township where she walked or skied the 1.5 miles to school with older brothers, neighbors, and younger sisters. She graduated from Pershing High School in Plummer with the class of 1939. Marie was also an active member of the Busy Bee 4-H Club.
After high school Marie worked at the Agricultural Adjustment Act offices in Red Lake Falls, which later became the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). She took a 6-month break from working to attend the Northwest School of Agriculture, Crookston and completed the Business Training program in 1941, after which she returned to working at the ASCS office for many years, which later moved to Crookston.
Marie met the love of her life, Walter Seeger at a Leap Year Valentine Party in 1940 and they were united in marriage October 14, 1942. Following their wedding, they lived west of Red Lake Falls on the farm homesteaded by Wally’s grandfather in 1917. It is on this farm that they raised their four children, Kathleen Rose Lee, Michael Jack, Steven Ernest and Bradley John together.
Wally and Marie were charter members and instrumental in the starting of Bethany Lutheran Church in Red Lake Falls in 1948. It was also that year that Marie and the newly created Ladies Aid started the tradition of the fall Norwegian-style Smorgasbord. It had been Marie’s joy to watch the congregation grow from just six families to its present size.
Throughout her life Marie was a member of various Bethany ladies’ organizations, involved in 4-H work in the Lake Pleasant Club and the Lake Pleasant Homemakers Club and took part in the Red Lake County extension home study program.
Marie was an accomplished folk art painter, specializing in Norwegian Rosemaling, who honed her skill alongside her sister-in-law, Lois in California on their annual trips to visit. Her passion for painting grew as she took classes to learn new painting techniques and styles and travelled to 15 European countries with Wally and on a French folk art tour she took with other American artists.
In 1976, they built the Hytta on the banks of Seeger Pond next to their farmhouse. It is there that Marie enjoyed 30 years of teaching women from the surrounding area folk art painting and where she held her annual Boutique where she offered for sale many of her painting projects and those of her friends and students. Wally and Marie enjoyed exploring new places and over their years traveled to all 50 states at least once, with trips to California to visit family and Philadelphia to visit their daughter as a constant, as well as many countries visited overseas. Later in life she enjoyed her annual “Sisters on a Lark” getaways with her sisters, where they chose a new destination every year for a week of gabbing, shopping, and playing cards.
Marie was a great example of what it meant to enjoy life’s simple pleasures; her first cup of coffee each morning – made by Wally, her daily devotional, tending to her flower gardens, painting in the Hytta, reading a great book, a visit from a dear friend, sharing a laugh, a tear or a hug and writing; correspondence, journaling, poetry, and family history.
Marie lived together with Wally almost inseparably for 60 years until Wally’s death in 2001. She continued to live on the farm they loved so much for 19 years, with her sons just down the road before she made the decision to move to Sunset Court in town in early 2020. It is there that she lived out her final years.
Those left to carry on her legacy include: one daughter; Kathleen Baluarte of Philadelphia, PA and three sons; Michael (Cheryl), Steven (Carol) and Bradley (Tricia) all of Red Lake Falls, MN. Grandchildren; Giselle (David) Gordon, David (Beth) Baluarte, Mark (Nicole) Wright, Beth (Jeff) Engebretson, Sara (fiancé Barry Trebil) Blake, Anne (Ryan) Archer, Nicholas (Julie) Seeger, Tania (special friend Shannon Gunderson) Waldal, Matt Wilson, Bryce (Karli) Wilson, Cole (Hannah) Seeger, Kelly (Ben) Pahlen, Dana (Jeremiah) Johnson, Travis (Katie) Seeger, Jacqueline (Ben) Gilles, Hilary Teiken, Josclyn, Tyee, Phillip and Andrew Seeger and 42 Great-Grandchildren. Sisters; Rosella McDonald of Portage, IN, Helen Ober of Flat Rock, MI, special cousin Audrey (Larry) Powers of Lakeport, CA and special nephew Robert (Suzanne) Ober of San Antonio, TX. Brother-in-law; Wes Myhre of Plummer, MN and sister-in-law; Erlaine Seeger of Santa Barbara, CA. She is also survived by many other relatives and countless friends.
Marie was welcomed into the kingdom of heaven by her husband Wally; grandson Levi Seeger; great-grandsons Tate & Tyson Seeger; parents Alfred & Rose Waldal; sisters; Selma Waldal, Clara (Jack) Auch, Beatrice (Clayton) Larson and Carolyn Myhre, brothers; James (Lydia), Alvin (Myrtle) and Lawrence (Emma) Waldal and brothers-in-law; Kenneth McDonald and Wayne Ober. In-laws Ernest and Lydia Seeger, Alvin Seeger, Reinhart (Lois) Seeger, Clara (Wayne) Lantz and Michael Seeger.
Condolences may be sent at www.johnsonfuneralservice.com
