Mary Ellen Ries

She is survived by her husband, David Ries and their three children James (with his wife Nicole), Julie (and her husband Gary), and Jessie. She has 8 siblings; Gina (and her husband Stephen), Corrine (and her husband Dan), Ron (and his wife Belinda), Richard (and his wife Beth), John (and his wife Deborah), Teresa (and her husband Mike), Amy (and her husband Tim) and David (and his partner Eymard), as well as numerous uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces.

She grew up in the farm area on the Garden Peninsula. She enjoyed a very happy and fulfilled family life, with a wonderful closeness among all her siblings. She graduated from high school at Big Bay de Noc, attended community college at Escanaba and then graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Northern Michigan University. She married David Ries Sept. 30th 1978 and ever since then they have lived in the same home, married almost 47 years, raising three wonderful children James, Julie, and Jessie.

After college graduation she worked for a time for Brookridge, a facility for troubled youth, both as a counselor and secretary. A turning point in her life was in 1979 when she became acquainted with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She thoroughly enjoyed studying the Bible, and found answers to so many questions she had about the future of the earth, Why does God allow suffering and will it ever end? Will peace and paradise be restored to the earth in line with God’s original purpose in creating it in the beginning? and many more. She was baptized in 1980, as was her husband, David. For nearly 45 years she engaged in the ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sharing Bible truths with so many throughout Marquette County.

For several years in the early 2000’s she was an Insurance Premium Auditor for Worker’s Compensation, and traveled throughout the U.S. sharing the workload with her husband. She was able to visit such places as Arkansas, New Orleans, Texas, San Francisco, L.A., Boston, North Carolina, Miami, Detroit, Cleveland, and many other places. She enjoyed the work, but her real joy was simply in meeting people and having conversations with them.

Mary was known for her exceptional hospitality, opening her home, her dinner table, giving kind help and assistance to so many over the years. It was a part of her personality; it was who she was. She loved people. She was beloved in the hearts of so many and will be dearly missed. Her faith was strong in God’s promise of resurrection to life in a restored paradise earth. Psalm 37:29 and John 3:16 and Rev 21:4 were favorite Bible verses she loved and trusted. We plan on seeing her again someday in God’s due time.

One of her favorite hobbies was working on puzzles. She had the uncanny ability of finding single pieces out of a pile by examining just one of the puzzle piece legs. From 1,000 to 3,000 piece puzzles, she enjoyed them all.

She was an avid gardener, as many can attest to when seeing the lush garden paradise she would grow each year around the house.

She enjoyed holding pizza parties in the back courtyard where we had built a brick pizza over. And she loved to play pinochle and have multi-table tournaments with friends.

A little known secret about Mary was that she wrote poems! These were touching and humorous and they were a joy to read. One of our favorites was about her dad called ‘The Jim Collins Look’ It’s about when her Dad would give her a unique skeptical look when she was doing something he thought was odd, but he let her do it anyway. I suppose other Dads are the same way too. She was very creative and her wit and wisdom will be deeply missed.

Mary’s family would like to thank Lake Superior Hospice. An organization that is full of beautiful caring people. They knew what to do and when to do it, and immediately responded to any need Mary had in order to make sure she comfortable in her last days.

It’s hard to express enough words of gratitude for the help they provided. After Mary’s death the nurses all signed a card and sent it to us. I remember feeling that they treated Mary as if she was their only patient in the world, such was the level of attention they gave her.

Funeral care was provided by Fassbender Swanson Hansen Funeral Home, and we thank them for their attending to all the details in a kind and thoughtful way, alleviating so much of the burden from our shoulders.

If you had a chance to meet Mary, you know what sort of an exceptionally kind person she was, and you can be sure she was happy to meet you too. She will so missed that words can not do justice to describe the loss. But we do trust the Bible’s promises that we will see her again in the resurrection, a promise from our loving God, Jehovah.

Condolences may be expressed online at fassbenderswansonhansen.com