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Craemer\r\n\r\nOur beloved Mom,\r\nMary Ann Amanda Genevieve (Hoffman) Craemer entered eternal life on Tuesday,\r\nApril 26, 2011 strengthened and comforted by her family and the Luther hospital\r\nstaff.\r\n\r\nMary Ann was\r\nborn at home in Stanley,\r\n Wisconsin on August 13,\r\n1919. She was the seventh and youngest\r\nchild of Catherine Harding Hoffman, a seamstress, and Charles Hoffman, a cigar\r\nmaker, farmer and musician. Mary Ann\r\ngraduated from St. Ann's Grade School and Stanley\r\n High School. She then moved to Eau\r\n Claire to attend Eau Claire State\r\n Normal College,\r\nwhere she received her teaching certificate. \r\nIt was in Schofield Hall on the Eau Claire Campus that Mary Ann looked\r\nacross the library study hall and met eyes with a fellow teaching student and Eau Claire native Raymond\r\nL. Craemer, Sr. Upon receiving her\r\nteaching certificate and license, Mary Ann taught students in the rural schools\r\nof Stanley, Bateman and Spencer. \r\n\r\n Mary\r\nAnn Hoffman and Ray Craemer married December 16, 1943 at St. Michael's Catholic\r\nChurch at Keshena Reserve, Keshena, Wisconsin,\r\nshe in a beautiful brown suit and headpiece, and he in his dashing Army\r\nuniform. Ray and Mary Ann then moved to\r\nFort Leonard Wood, Missouri\r\nwhere he completed his basic training. \r\nRay's World War II Army duty took him to the Alaskan Aleutian Islands\r\nwhere he learned that his first child, Raymond L. Craemer, Jr. had been born. \r\n\r\nRay and Mary Ann\r\nfirst rented a house on Barland\r\n Street in Eau\r\n Claire, and in 1951 they purchased their home on the\r\nEast Hill. They were charter members of\r\nImmaculate Conception Parish where they helped build its first church in the\r\n1940's by carrying the lumber to the church site.\r\n\r\nWhen Mary Ann's\r\nninth child was one year old, she returned to the University\r\nof Wisconsin, Eau Claire at age 46 and took one course at a\r\ntime towards a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Teaching. Not only did she enjoy art, geography and\r\ngeology classes ---- she traveled to Lapland\r\nand brought home rocks for her kids, explaining their geological history. At her Bachelor of Arts graduation when asked\r\nby one of her kids what her next plans were she smiled and replied, "I'd like\r\nto get my Master's." She did, in\r\n1979. Mary Ann taught at the Eau Claire Academy,\r\nEau Claire Public\r\n Schools, Eau Claire Technical College,\r\nand in Special Studies at the University\r\nof Wisconsin, Eau Claire. \r\nShe then opened "Specialized Educational Services" in downtown Eau Claire, a business\r\nwhere she diagnosed and tutored elementary to secondary students in reading and\r\nstudy skills. One grateful student later\r\ntold her, "I never knew how to write until you turned me around." Mary Ann's work enabled many, many Eau Claire students to\r\nachieve academic success. Her standards\r\nwere high - with her diagnostic and tutoring skills she advanced students'\r\nreading levels two grades in six months. \r\nShe operated her business from age 60 to 75 retiring to travel more with\r\nRay.\r\n\r\nAnd travel they\r\ndid, to their kids' homes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia, Oregon, California and Norway many\r\ntimes over. But you could always find\r\nthem at their home on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Easter. The family fondly remembers holiday meals of\r\nup to 15 home made dishes planned from a menu which she wrote on a paper plate. Her specialties were noodles, bread and fruit\r\npies. Mary Ann and Ray canned hundreds of quarts of fruits and vegetables a\r\nyear which they harvested from their garden and woods.\r\n\r\nAt age 53, Mary\r\nAnn took up cross country skiing joining the Eau Claire Ski Striders. She\r\ncompleted the Fridjof Nansen and the American Birkebeiner - Kortelopet ski\r\nraces. She and Ray enjoyed skiing the\r\nwoods of Wisconsin.\r\nAt age 83, she skied down the entire length of Clear Lake\r\nwith her youngest son and grandson. At\r\nage 90 she reminded her doctors of her plans to continue skiing. \r\n\r\nIn her early\r\neighties, Mary Ann took up water color painting. She enjoyed teaching her children and\r\ngrandchildren to paint with water colors. Mary Ann traveled to her kids'\r\nhomes. Her last flight was from Washington\r\nD.C. to Minneapolis in November 2005. She guided and influenced the career\r\nchoices of her children and grandchildren. \r\nMary Ann had a deep value for education. \r\n\r\n\r\nWhat can you say\r\nabout a woman whose nine children were absolutely devoted to her? Whose many grandchildren came to see her, with\r\ntheir girlfriends, spouses and children? \r\nShe was and always will be, The Matriarch of Forty: 9 + 27 + 4. \r\nA true Matriarch, she set her standards high for herself, her children\r\nand grandchildren; spiritual, academic and most importantly for her, service to\r\nothers. She demonstrated kindness and\r\ncompassion to others her entire life. \r\nJust five months ago, while a patient herself, she noticed a disabled\r\nman often not able to feed himself. She\r\nnot only started feeding him; she went one step beyond, she discussed the need\r\nfor the staff to pay attention to him and to help him with his meals.\r\n\r\nMary Ann\r\nbelieved in the respect from one generation to another. She often took her children to the LaPointe Indian\r\nCemetery on Madeleine Island. In one particular year, she was appalled by\r\nits condition. She took photos of the\r\nsite, located a Native American tribal member and told him, "These are your\r\nancestors here. Why is no one taking\r\ncare of them?" She donated to the\r\nfundraising effort. This resulted in a\r\nnew fence around the cemetery, and installation of a new public information\r\nboard which explains the history of the burial ground and burial practice. \r\n\r\nMary Ann valued\r\nnature especially trees. 1966, Mary Ann and Ray built a cabin on Clear Lake with their children. Forty-five years later, the cabin remains a\r\nfamily treasure. Mary Ann loved her\r\ncottage and surprised her children by installing running water at age 90!\r\n\r\nMary Ann is\r\nsurvived by her sister, Victoria Wakefield, Devils Lake, ND; five daughters, Catherine\r\nNes (Dr. Erik), Norway, Ann Cartwright (Larry), Annandale, VA, Jean Craemer\r\n(Dr. Phillip Patton), Portland, OR,\r\nTherese Cummings (Rodney), Chanhassen, MN, and Maria Harp (Dennis), Eau Claire,\r\nWI; four sons, Dr. Ray Craemer Jr. (Julia) Palos Verdes, CA, Peter Craemer (Ronda), Gresham, OR, Charles\r\nCraemer (Linda) Bruce, WI, and Michael\r\nCraemer (Joleen) Minnetonka, MN. Mary Ann took great pride in and had a special\r\nlove for each of her twenty-seven grandchildren, Rebecca Freedman (Michael),\r\nElana, Sarah, Andrea, Gena and Karena Craemer, Karl Nes (Torhild Tonsberg),\r\nMichael and John-Erik Nes, McKenzie Craemer, Kyle, Kent (Christy), Ben, Brian,\r\nand Daniel Craemer, Matthew, Bryant, Madeleine and Anna Patton, David, Scott\r\nand Laura Cummings, Ryan, Kevin and Alyssa Harp, and Erik and Katherine\r\nCraemer. Mary Ann is also survived by four great - grandchildren, Linea, Noah,\r\nJulianna, and Maya. Mary Ann is also\r\nsurvived by 7 nephews and 5 nieces.\r\n\r\nMary Ann is\r\npreceded in death by Ray, her husband of 56 years, four brothers and one\r\nsister. \r\n\r\n The\r\nfamily wishes to express their deep gratitude to the Luther Midelfort Mayo\r\nHealthcare System, Dr. Akfaly, and his nursing staff, Dr. Rozich and his\r\nnursing staff, Mona Howard NP, and Barbara Noel RN of the CHF Clinic, the\r\nClairemont Tru-Rehab staff, and Sue Carey LPN and the staff of the Grace Edgewood Assisted\r\n Living Center.\r\n\r\nMass of\r\nChristian Burial will be at 11AM, Saturday, May 7, 2011, at Immaculate\r\nConception Catholic Church, 1712 Highland Ave.,\r\n Eau Claire, with\r\nFather Eugene Klink officiating. Visitation will be Friday, May 6, 2011, from 4\r\nto 7PM at Lenmark Gomsrud Linn Funeral Home, 814 First Ave.,\r\n Eau Claire, with a\r\nprayer service beginning at 6:30 and a rosary to follow. Visitation will also\r\nbe one hour prior to Mass at church. Interment will be in Forest\r\nHill Cemetery,\r\nEau Claire. \r\n\r\n In\r\nlieu of flowers, the family requests your continued prayers and consideration\r\nof a donation to The Culmore Clinic, a medical clinic for the uninsured which\r\nwas co-founded by Ann Craemer Cartwright. Donations are fully tax deductible:\r\nThe Culmore Clinic, c/o St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 3305\r\n Glen Carlyn Drive, Falls\r\n Church, VA 22041.

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