Marilyn "Lynn" Jean Meiners

Our mom, Marilyn “Lynn” Jean Meiners, passed from our world to the next in the very early minutes of Sunday, August 4th, 2019 after 91 journeys around the sun. She passed in her sleep and was surrounded when she left by many of her nearest family who loved her dearly.

Mom was born August 2, 1928 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  She was the first of two daughters of Wesley W. Sherman and Myrtle “Micky” Bonner. Her lone sibling, Shirley, and her best friend throughout her life, was a year and a half younger. Her dad was a medical supply salesman and later a hospital administrator. Their small family lived primarily in Minneapolis, Minnesota through the 1930’s and a short time in Oklahoma. They moved to Grand Rapids, Minnesota in the early 40’s. In the middle of her senior year her dad, following his desired career path, took a challenging job in Albert Lea, Minnesota where mom would graduate from high school in 1946. The following fall she began college at the University of Minnesota interested in journalism. Then, in the late fall of 1946 her father died. The following spring of 1947 while visiting a friend back in Grand Rapids she was introduced to our dad, Elmer R. Norberg, who had recently returned from serving in the Pacific during World War II. On December 20th, 1947 they were married in Grand Rapids.

Dad was already enrolled in College with the “big dream” that had come to him while sitting in a fox hole during the War, to become a wildlife biologist. Mom worked and helped him pursue that vision.  In 1953 mom, dad and Terryl moved to Boise where dad took his first job with the Idaho Fish and Game Department. Later, after the move to Lewiston, Idaho dad received his Masters Degree in Plant and Animal Ecology from the University of Minnesota. His and their dream imagined in that fox hole had become reality.

The oldest of their three children, Terryl, was born in Corvallis, Oregon in 1949 where dad was finishing his under graduate work. Their second child, Paul, was born in 1955 in Boise where dad had begun his career he’d imagined in that fox hole, as a wildlife biologist. And mom always said we then went to Alaska to get Roger, the youngest of their three children, who was born in 1960. The family was in Alaska from 1959 through 1961, returning to Lewiston, Idaho where dad was the regional big game wildlife biologist for that region during much of the 1960’s. Mom worked at Lewis and Clark State College and was much appreciated by those she worked for. Our family was very active in the Lutheran Church; mom had a nice voice and would sing in the choir. She also had a penchant for playing the piano and good sense for sketching; birds being a favorite subject.

In 1968 the family moved to the Boise area, settling in Meridian, as dad took a higher management job with the Fish and Game Department. Mom, always there helping the family through thin times, took a job at the then Boise State College doing secretarial work. In those days the drive between Meridian and Boise passed through many open grassy fields with cows and horses grazing in them. Mom would have liked that.

In 1978 our dad died having survived for five years from a previous heart attack. At 49 she was a widow. But as fate would have it a man our dad knew professionally, William “Bill” Meiners, lost his wife very near the time our dad died. Mom and Bill were introduced by mutual friends and on January 4th, 1979 they were married. Bill had two children, a daughter Tamie living in Wilder, and his son Rob who passed away in 2007.

The decade of the 1980’s was a time of great joy for mom; her kids were raised; Bill was retired and they had time to travel. Bill let our mom know how much he loved her. They would sing and dance around their house out on Locust Grove Road. Mom always wanted to finish her college education which she had to cut short while raising three kids; which, she often would say was the great focus/love of her life. But with great determination and the help of our step father, in 1983 she was able to attain the college degree she’d wanted for so many years. It was a BA in Social Science with emphasis in Economics from Boise State University earning top grades in the process.

But again as fate would have it, by 1990 Bill would be diagnosed with some form of Parkinson’s disease. For five years mom took care of him, day and night. In July of 1995 Bill passed away, mom was with him. Her dad and two husbands left her far too soon, but that is life.

She lived on Shamrock Street in Boise for twenty seven years, 1990 to 2017, leaving to visit her sister in Montana or her daughter and family in Wyoming from time to time. She traveled to England with her sister during that period, a trip she cherished. Mom did volunteer work at the Idaho Botanical Garden, she was a lover of the natural world and considered herself a proud environmentalist.

Our mom was “always” there when we needed her in our times of struggle. She was remarkably un selfish and kind. Unkind comments from her were nonexistent. She had a tender heart that she had toughened up through the many years of life’s challenges.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Elmer Norberg and second husband, Bill Meiners, as well as her brother-in-law, Fred Hager and her niece, Britta Hager.

She is survived by her sister Shirley Hager and her two sons: Steig and Krist Hager of Huson, Montana; daughter Terryl (Steve) Eckert, of Cheyenne, Wyoming; son Paul (Mary) Norberg of Garden City, Idaho; Tamie Proper of Wilder, Idaho; son Roger (Patty) Norberg of Eagle, Idaho; two granddaughters, Mira Ivester (Stan) and Sarah Eckert (Omar Villasenor); six great grandchildren with a seventh anticipated to arrive this November. And extended families of many Eckerts, Norbergs, Morgans and Aschenbrenners

Our family wants to thank the many kind care givers at Spring Creek Assisted Living in Eagle along with Hospice care givers, where she’d lived for the past year.  We want to express a special thank you to Lori Pintar, who helped mom for many years while she still lived in her home. They shared very similar political and worldly points of view, and enjoyed being around each other greatly!  

A celebration of our mom’s life will be held Saturday, August 31st at 2:00 pm at Cloverdale Funeral Home. Internment of her ashes will occur at some time in the future at both Dry Creek Cemetery where she will join her two husbands that are buried next to each other, and on her sister’s ranch in Montana.

A scholarship fund at the University of Idaho for students studying wildlife management, collectively named the: Elmer R. Norberg, William R. Meiners, and Marilyn Sherman Norberg Meiners Memorial Scholarship Endowment, exists there. Our family would ask that anyone wanting to contribute to that fund in tribute to mom, or dad or Bill, please contact Shawna Lindquist, Director for Endowments and Gift Administration. Her phone number is: 208-885-4000. Love you mom!!!