Irene Evelyn Goebel

Irene Evelyn Goebel (92), beloved and loving mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, passed from this world at Valley Senior Living on Columbia, Tuesday, July 20.

Irene was born December 23, 1928, to William and May Johnson in a house her grandfather (Pete Johnson) had built in the 1880’s in Compton Township of Ottertail County, Minnesota. The Johnson family moved to a farm located at the junction of Highway 29 and 52 in Ottertail County in 1937. There she was raised with younger siblings Russell, Beverly, and Marilyn.

She attended school at Deer Creek, Minnesota, and met her future husband, Marvin, while in first grade. They married in 1948 after Marvin’s honorable discharge from the army. After Marvin’s graduating from Molar Barber College in Fargo, the young couple moved to Kenmare, North Dakota in 1949 where he completed his apprenticeship. In August of 1955, the young family (now including David, Duane, and Jeanne) moved to Grand Forks where Marvin opened his own shop on Demers Avenue. In 1959, they purchased the first of their two homes, both located on South Eleventh Street adjacent to Elks Park. The second home purchased was their residence for forty-two years. They were amongst the first new members of Calvary Lutheran Church and remained active in church life all their lives. Irene was always involved with Sunday School, Circle, and Wedding and Funeral committees.

In the fall of 1966, Irene joined the staff of the catalog department at JC Penny, first located at the Third Street address and later in the Columbia Mall. She retired in 1993 after twenty-seven years but continued her friendships and visits with those with whom she had worked.

Marvin and Irene purchased a small camper in 1989 and placed it at a resort on Big Pine Lake near Perham, Minnesota. That became their getaway most summer weekends for the next thirteen years. It was often the site of guests and family with no one ever leaving hungry. They also loved to travel and visit both near and distant family and friends. With a cousin, they traveled to Maine in 1991 to learn more of her Miles Standish heritage.

Prior to Marvin’s death in 2008, she moved to a townhouse on Forty-Sixth Avenue South and remained there until joining the residents at Parkwood Manor in 2016 where she lived until her recent move to Valley Senior Living on Columbia.

She was preceded in death by her parents (William and May Johnson), husband (Marvin), sister (Marilyn), and brothers-in-law (Laverne Olson and Charles Carlson), a sister-in-law (Joanne Johnson), niece (Diana Clark), and nephew (Bruce Olson).

She is survived by children Dave (Judi) Goebel, Duane (Patty) Goebel, and Jeanne (Bill) Kuhl, and eight grandchildren, seventeen great- grandchildren, five great-great grandchildren, brother (Russell Johnson), sister (Beverly Olson) and numerous nieces and nephews, and all those whose hearts she touched.

Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. July 23, 2021, at Calvary Lutheran Church, Grand Forks. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the start of the service at the church.

Interment will be held at Memorial Park North Cemetery, Grand Forks.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Calvary Lutheran Church or Ethos Home Care and Hospice of Grand Forks.