A Christian Burial Mass will be held at 11:00 am on Thursday, June 15, 2023 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, New Ulm. Father Jerry Meidle celebrates Mass and burial at New Ulm Catholic Cemetery.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 14 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and will continue on Thursday, June 15 from 9:30 to 10:30 am at New Ulm’s Minnesota Valley Funeral Home North Chapel.

Margaret Joan Geis was born on September 7, 1939, in Bismarck, North Dakota, to Joseph J. Geis and Margaret M. (Gruner) Geis. As a little girl at the end of the Great Depression, Margaret lived in different places with different relatives, but when her family finally settled in Mandan, the North Dakota prairie became her playground. . She used to fish and explore with her brother Russell, but after lunch she always had to be home by dinner when the 6 o’clock train whistle could be heard for miles. I did. She remembered having to run many times to get back in her time.

After graduating from Mandan High School, Margaret worked as a registered nurse for three years before graduating from a one-year LPN college in Dickinson, North Dakota. She then returned to St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, where she worked until she married her lifelong lover Gerald her Bender on 28 August 1962.

The couple moved from Mandan to Billings, Montana, where she began raising a family, and she became a homemaker. After spending her 11 years in Billings, the couple moved to New Ulm, Minnesota in 1973. Margaret returned to her nursing career, where she worked for two years in the geriatric ward of Loretto Hospital.

Margaret spent a lot of time on her 20-acre hobby farm with her children, raising horses, calves, rabbits, dogs, ducks and pigeons. She was the mother of 4H and lived in the county. Margaret was fond of sewing, knitting, crocheting and embroidery. She enjoyed gardening, canning, picking mushrooms, and feeding her family favorites such as stews and rubber necks, cabbage rolls, and salty pork necks with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. The list goes on and on. She was always ready to try new recipes, creating them by cutting them out of magazines. She loved bingo too, Margaret, and she was playing bingo whenever she could.

Margaret and Gerald purchased their dream camper van in 1999 and began traveling in the United States (Alaska), Canada and Mexico. She read her book about her special place and he took her there. As snowbirds, they settled in Apache Junction, Arizona, where they spent happy, warm winters. Even after Gerald’s death, she will continue her journey.

Margaret and Gerald taught their children the joy of travel, the importance of family, and their connection to the West, where they enjoyed many memories with their brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and special friends who were always close by. rice field. wherever their hearts are. She loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Their birthdays and special days were never forgotten.

Margaret’s strong faith and love for the Lord was evident, and she taught it to all her children, and she seldom missed Mass. As a devout member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New Ulm, Minnesota, she continued to receive the Blessed Sacraments. She could do it.

Margaret was a loving, kind, caring, strong woman who never lost her sense of adventure and love of life. Her strength remained until the end. She and her smile will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Margaret includes Paulette (Richard) Schilling of Four Oaks, NC; Gregory (Ingrid) Bender of Wiesbaden, Germany; Rebecca (Michael) Bown of East Bethel; Nancy Jo (Allen) Dauer of New Ulm; , Joseph (special friend Iris Rosales) Bender of New Ulm. Her ten grandchildren, Jamie and Jackson Schilling, Patrick and Jennifer Bender, Scott Bowe and Matthew (Heather) Bowe, Maggie (John) Seuss, Adam, Lauren, Rachel Dauer, and her six grandchildren Great-grandchildren, Haley, Jaden, Jacin, Carson Bowe, Ally and Tucker Seuss. Her sisters-in-law, Sandra Geis of Mandan, North Dakota, Dolores Scott of West Point, Nebraska, Nettie (Dennis) Brown of Mandan, North Dakota, and Cecilia Bender of Billings, Montana. her stepbrothers, Clarence (Millie) Bender of Billings, Montana, and Kenneth Bender of Billings, Montana; and many other relatives and friends. Her parents had died before her. Her Husband Gerald, 2011. her younger brother, Russell Geis; and her many other in-laws, relatives and friends.

Special thanks to Dr. Scott Rysdahl of Woodstone Senior Living and Caregivers of Allina New Ulm Hospice.

In lieu of flowers, Alina Hospice, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, or a gift of the donor’s choice will be preferred.

To leave her family condolences online or to sign the guestbook, please visit mvfh.org.