Obituary of Marlene A. Shortridge

Marlene A.Shortridge, of Maplewood, passed away on Tuesday, October 30^th, 2018 at the age of 83. She was preceded in death by her parents, Edwin and Eva Lof; and brother, Roger Lof. She is survived by her husband, Perry; daughters, Jane Marie and Julie Ann; 3 granddaughters; and sister of Dorothy Sonnack, Clifford “Kip” Lof, and Lorraine (Bob) Terlson.

Marlene was the youngest of five children born to Edwin and Eva Lof in 1935, the first of the family to be born in a hospital and not at the original homestead or logging camp in the woods. She attended the one-room schoolhouse in Emmaville, Minnesota until moving to Nevis and enrolling in 8^th grade there. She spotted Perry the first day at her new big school, and asked the girl who was assigned to show her around, “Who is that boy? He’s the cutest one in the class.” To which Marilyn responded, “That’s my little brother.” Marlene was mortified. They officially met on the day of the opening of her father’s lumberyard in town, where she was serving beverages. They have been together ever since.

After graduating high school, Marlene moved to Minneapolis where she worked at Pillsbury Flour, wearing white gloves with her business suit, the fashion of the day. At age 19, she was responsible for the evening bank deposits, which required her to carry bags of money down Washington Avenue.
 

She married Perry in 1955 and they moved to the eastside of St. Paul. Marlene worked at 3M as a secretary, respected for her incredible typing speed of 75 words a minute with 100% accuracy. A fact of which she was proud considering the typewriter was manual!

She quit work to raise her two daughters, and later put her organizational and sales skills to good use selling Avon for 10 years, earning numerous sales awards. She let her daughters package the products for her customers and we’re certain she had to do plenty of re-packaging to correct our mistakes!

She and Perry worked together building, managing, and developing properties over the years. In the early 1970s, they bought their property on Little Sand Lake in Park Rapids, MN. Spending weekends and summers there with family was a highlight of both of their lives - - all of our lives!

We are thankful that Marlene lived life exactly as she wanted. She will be missed by family and friends.

Memorial Service is 11:00AM on Saturday November 3^rd, 2018 at LifePoint Church, 2220 Edgerton Street, Maplewood, Minnesota with luncheon to follow. Memorials preferred to LifePoint Church.