Mardene Skogen
courtesy photo
Mardene Skogen
POLSON — Live until you die. Her whole being echoed this as she challenged Dr. Wagner to get her to Alex’s wedding and then for her to be there for the birth of her great-grandchild – Nevada.
Our beloved wife, mother, step-mother, sister, grandmother and friend, Mardene Skogen, passed away on Oct. 9, 2017, holding the hand of her husband Al, and surrounded by her loving family and friends. She had fought a tough battle with cancer – outliving all predictions due to her toughness and wicked sense of humor.
Family was the crowning glory of her life, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were the crown jewels. They all adored her. Here are some of the words they used to describe Grandma Dene: Riley - moxie and courageous; Chye - energetic and welcoming; Alexandra - spunky and loving; Trae - loves kids and huggy; Everly - partner in crime; Nathan - cool as a cucumber; Bree - bad ass, ball of fire; Ryley - loving and beautiful; Aden - best Gramma ever, and I mean it; Kolby: warm hearted and loved; Chris - biggest heart and best Grandma; Emily – warm hearted and spontaneous; Sicily - loving and kind; Sadie - she was always so sassy and showed tuff love; Gabby - the life of the party and the class clown; Lexi - amazing and beautiful; Peyton - my best friend, she taught me how to plant flowers; Megan - warm and welcoming; JT – sweet, caring, loving; Titus - she had a funny laugh; Noah - creative, goofy, and she loved Christmas; Ciciley - she was bubbly, beautiful, and selfless; Lucas - she was cheerful, thoughtful and kind; Amy - glass half full, fun, funny, lived life to the fullest; Victoria, Sydney and Molly - so caring, good person, bubbly, courageous, amazing, kind, the best, funny – especially when she pulled down her teeth, beautiful, pretty, loving, nice, very caring, a dog person, always let us play games – the best Grandma; Aaron - you always knew Grandma genuinely cared about you and your daily life ... the little details of your life mattered to her; Alan - she was always laughing; Adam - genuine and infectious smile … you couldn’t not be laughing or smiling when you were around her… joyful, always so fun to be around, loved holidays.
She was born May 20, 1949, in the farm house on Canyon Mill in Ronan, where she grew up with her 13 brothers and sisters. The story goes that Grandma (Melva) was making dinner for a work crew that was putting a new roof on one of the barns and felt tired, laid down and Grandpa (Wayne) ended up delivering Mardene, 11 pounds. She was the 10th of 14 children.
There was always something going on in the Snyder household and Mardene learned her abilities to sew, play the piano, and make projects from anything, there.
She was always hitting the garage sales and thrift stores to create her next costume or prize. She loved gathering with her siblings and they would spend many afternoons looking through pictures and talking about old times. Her two remaining sisters stayed by her side through chemo, radiation and immunotherapy and kept her thoughts on life. The three were supposed to go up on a flight with their brother Robert; but she got too sick and regretted that she couldn’t go … but think how she can soar now.
She worked at the Ace Hardware (Coast to Coast) for many years and then at the Ronan State Bank (Community Bank) until she retired three years ago. She gathered monthly with her past coworkers to keep up, laugh and tell tall-tales of retirement and grandchildren.
Mardene loved fun and lived life fully. If there was something going on she was right in the middle of it. She believed strongly in supporting her local community, helping to put on countless tournaments and events and was in every parade riding on the cribbage board from the Valley Club or as an O’Leary Ole Lady, or as a musical clarinet player. She spent countless hours with her husband and friends helping on the Mission Mountain Golf Course and putting on the Skogen Open. She was a golfer and bowler extraordinaire, an adventurous zip-liner and a great dancer (she and Al could cut a rug).
Crazy about hats and Christmas – she filled her children and grandchildren with traditions and memories to carry on in their lives.
She is survived by her husband, Al; children, Brenda (Rick) Dennis, Brad (Sandy) Wirz and step-children, Cindy (Tom) Dell, Fred (Tammy) Skogen and Karen (Aaron) Haslem; sisters, Karen (Tracy) Manus and Sharon Turner; brothers, Robert Snyder, Duane Snyder, Merlyn Snyder, Vernon Snyder, Leonard (Mary) Snyder and Ron (Georgia) Snyder; grandchildren, Riley, Alex and Nathan Dennis, BreeAnna (Ryley) Duford, Chris (Emily) Byker, Sadie, Gabby, Lexi and Peyton Wirz, Amy (James) Rozell, Aaron (Marrisa) Skogen, Alan (Kelsey) Skogen, Adam (Alexis) Skogen, Titus, Noah, Ciciley and Lucas Haslem, JT (Ashley) Dell and Megan (Adam) Goldammer; and 14 great-grandchildren, Aden, Kolby, Victoria, Sydney, Molly, Sicily, Emma, Carter, Kaden, Daven, Virginia, Stephen, Everly and Nevada and an extraordinary group of cousins, nieces and nephews and friends she valued as family.
Services have been held. Mardene asked that donations go to Cheerful Heart, Inc. and The Boys and Girls Club.
Memories of Mardene and messages of condolence may be sent to the family online at: www.shriderthompson.com.
