Marie Elizabeth Rimmelspacher passed away Monday, June 26, 2023, in Lewiston. She was born at St. Joseph Hospital in Lewiston on Oct. 1, 1936, to her parents, Lily and Charles Rimmelspacher. She was preceded in death by her brothers Edmund and John and her sister Marcella (Sally) Floyd.

A lifelong learner, she began her education at Holy Family Elementary School in Clarkston and was a member of the Charles Francis Adams High School graduating class of 1954. Her first job was as a dental assistant for Dr. Meyers Sr.

The following year, Marie entered St. Gertrude’s Convent in Cottonwood and became a part of the Benedictine Order. Renamed Sister Marietta, she began her long teaching career in the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Boise. Sister Marietta brought joy to the classroom and to the teacher’s work room.

Earning her degrees in Spirituality and Theology from Mundelein College in Chicago, Sister Marietta continued her studies during summer vacations at a variety of colleges including Lewis-Clark State College and University of Idaho.

In 1978, Sister Marietta began working in Social Services at Tri-State Convalescent Center in Clarkston. She was elected President of the Sisters’ Senate for the Boise Diocese, and appointed Vicar for Religious in Northern Idaho in 1980. The following year, Sister Marietta asked for a leave of absence from the St. Gertrude’s Community. The next four years she taught in Banning, Calif., and worked as a governess in Palm Springs. She left the convent in June of 1984.

By December of that year, Marie was in Peace Corps training, bound for Careysburg, Liberia, to teach third graders. At the age of 49, she endured the poverty of her village amid the growing instability and on-going revolution as well as actual violence to herself. In the end, however, she wished that she could have stayed.

On returning home In 1987, at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, Marie joined the staff of Haller House, in Newark, N.J., a transitional home for children with AIDS. Seeing the need to help the caregivers, she sent out a call to her friends for materials on the grieving process or prayer services on death. “We’ll have to work on helping the care workers cope with the death of these babies they are taking care of.”

She returned to teaching the next year in Sao Paulo, Brazil to teach at a Catholic grade school, where the teachers and students were bilingual. This worked well until she left the school grounds and had to go shopping in Portuguese.

Her next teaching assignment was in Casablanca, Morocco, where American personnel were advised to leave because of the start of the Iraq war.

Once again, Marie returned to the valley, but after a year teaching at Guardian Angel School in Colton, she left for Portland, Ore., to attend the East-West College for the Healing Arts.

After graduation in 1992, she began the Wellness Center in Lewiston, where she introduced a variety of massage techniques to meet the needs of each client. She also gave spiritual direction and life workshops. Marie taught Reiki classes and gathered a group of friends to make a movable Labyrinth.

Marie worked until Parkinson’s Disease made it impossible for her to work. She spent her last years in the care of the staff of Wedgewood Terrace, and in her final days in the care of St. Joseph Family Hospice caregivers. We thank them for walking with Marie through these times.

Marie died peacefully at Wedgwood Terrace on Monday, June 26, 2023, with family and friends by her side. She is survived by her cousins, nieces, nephews and friends around the world. To quote a friend: “For Marie, friendship was a two-way street. She never held herself above anyone.”

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday, July 21, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 1109 Chestnut St., Clarkston. Burial will follow at Vineland Cemetery in Clarkston. A reception will then take place afterwards.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Monastery of St. Gertrude, 465 Keuterville Road, Cottonwood, ID 83522 or to the Carlson/Rimmelspacher scholarship fund at Holy Family Catholic School, 1002 Chestnut St., Clarkston, WA 99403.