Doris Marguerite Stripe

ONTONAGON, Mich. — Doris Marguerite Stripe, 96, of Ontonagon, passed away Feb. 28, 2015, at the Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital Long Term Care Unit.

Born Oct. 15, 1918, daughter of De Marguerite and Earl H. Sieweke, she grew up in Riverside, Ill. She had a long life, blessed with family, career, volunteer work and travel. She was a woman of great courage.

Her first husband, James John Smith, a meteorologist with the Chicago Weather Bureau, died in 1952, leaving her with four children, who ranged in age from 2 to 8 years. During the ensuing years, she ran a day-care center and took classes at Northern Illinois University. She graduated with a degree in elementary education in 1959.

In the summer of 1960, she took her four children on a month-long excursion through Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario. They camped along the way and visited several shrines and other points of interest, including Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City and the Laurentian Mountains. She spent two years teaching in Milwaukee and then moved to Ontonagon in 1961, where she taught kindergarten for more than 20 years.

She met Donald Stripe in Ontonagon and they married in 1964. Upon retirement, they became Winter Texans in Port Aransas, Texas. Marguerite loved to travel. She had many wonderful adventures while visiting places in Asia, Africa, America, Canada, Australia and Europe. A couple of her favorites were the coastal cities of Alaska, and the fjords of Norway.

She was a passionate volunteer, active in many local groups. She especially enjoyed the Red Hatters, The Kitchen Band and the Association of Retired Teachers. Marguerite worked tirelessly for the Ontonagon Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and was an active member of Holy Family Catholic Church for more than 50 years.

She was pre-deceased by her first husband, James John; son, James Andrew, in 1981; husband, Donald Stripe, in 2004; and brothers, Robert, Donald and Richard.

Marguerite is survived by daughters Susan (Jim), of Traverse City, Rita (Art), of Sault Ste Marie, Canada; and Mary (Dean), of Lyons. Grandchildren are Andrew (Lety), Kate (Mark), Amanda (Joel), Kyle (Nicoletta), Pam (Andrew), Megan, Alicia, Christopher and Alex. There are also 19 great-grandchildren.

The family would like to express appreciation to the nurses, doctors, nurses’ aides and all those at Aspirus Long Term Care who took such good care of our mother.

Kindly direct any memorials to Aspirus Long Term Care in Ontonagon or the Ontonagon Chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, May 15, 2015, at 11 a.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church with Father Michael Jacobus as celebrant. Visitation will take place one hour before services. Burial will follow at the Holy Family Catholic Cemetery.