Marie Dorothy Blakestad

August 21, 1931 - January 10, 2020

Marie Dorothy Blakestad, 88, passed away on January 10, 2020, at the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Marie was born August 21, 1931, in rural Wayland, Iowa, the daughter of Louie E. and Verna (Boese) Kaufman. She attended Wayland schools, graduating in 1950, then the University of Iowa, where she graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in journalism. She moved to Portland, Oregon, and worked for the Portland Journal for a year, after which she returned to Washington, Iowa, where she met Wallace F. Blakestad, a pharmacist at Osincup Drug. They married on May 16, 1957, at the Swedesburg Evangelical Lutheran Church. Following Wally’s deployment to Korea, they moved to Humboldt, Iowa, in 1959, where Wally worked at Larson Drug while Marie looked after their two daughters, Janet and Nancy. Wally and Marie purchased the store in 1972, renaming it Blakestad Drug, and Marie worked at the store as a business manager and gift buyer until their retirement in 2001. Marie was a member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Humboldt for more than 60 years, where she served on the church council and the ELCW, edited the church newsletter, taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, and arranged flowers for funerals. In the community she was a Brownies and 4-H leader, and served on a doctor search committee and the hospital Auxiliary Board. A talented and efficient homemaker, Marie excelled at cooking and baking, especially pies, rolls, and cookies. She made many beautiful hand-stitched quilts, and enjoyed flower gardening and birds. She was a voracious reader of historical books and political biographies, and closely followed news and current events as well as Hawkeye sports. A veteran Scrabble player all of her life, she enjoyed countless coffee and Scrabble parties with neighbors and family. She is survived by daughters Janet (Ken) Bade of Humboldt and Dr. Nancy Blakestad of St. Paul, Minnesota; sister Velda (Keith) Hammel of Big Rapids, Michigan, and brother Larry (Carole) Kaufman of Olds, Iowa; two step-grandchildren, Dan Bade and Scott (Erika) Bade, and two step-great grandchildren, Oliver and Audrey Bade, all of St. Paul, Minnesota; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Wally, her parents, and siblings Archie, Richard, Vernon, and Verlee. A Celebration of Life is planned for the spring, with burial at Union Cemetery in Humboldt,Iowa.