Marie Ethel Drazil

Marie Drazil was born on July 16th, 1932 and died on August 12th, 2020.  She is survived by her children Richard Drazil, Denise Drazil, (Linda) Anezka Drazil and Terry Drazil. Grandchildren: Deona Drazil, Jack Paulsen, Dane Frost, Sonny Rajnus, Athena Frost, Arianna Drazil, Ashlyn Drazil, Agnes Drazil, Jesse, Jonathan and Lily Figueroa, Jason Drazil,, Kiera Bland, and Joshua Drazil, and her three great grandchildren, Kai Day, Knighten Day, Arlo Hertel, Scott Drazil, Andrew Drazil, Reagan Drazil, Ethan Bland, Kaitlynn Bland, and Ellen Bland.

She was born in Gardner, Colorado; to parents Della and Lee Rowe, and was the second born child.  She has an older sister Leona who is still living and a younger brother Jerry who passed away a few years ago.

When her parents divorced in 1943, she moved to Portland, Oregon with her mom and attended Jefferson H.S. where she excelled in swimming, softball and other sports. She later moved to Culver, Oregon where she graduated from High School, met Adolph Drazil and was married to him in 1952. They later moved to Malin, Oregon where they bought their farm and homestead on Demerritt Rd.

She went on to have 5 children. Starting with her first-born David who died at the age of 6 months.  Followed by her eldest son Richard, then Denise, Linda and last was Terry.

Marie was an incredible mother, homemaker and in the early years she farmed alongside her husband Adolph raising potato’s. And whether it be weeding the fields, watering, working on the bulker, driving truck, cutting seed, she was there helping and a hard worker.

As a homemaker she was a good seamstress, sewing her own clothes, as well as clothes for her kids or making costumes as needed for Halloween or school plays. She was also an incredible cook. Always making homemade wheat bread, canning her own garden vegetables, jams, sauerkraut, making traditional Czech dishes, baking, and in the early years churning butter by hand for the family. Her house was always clean, and she took pride in being a good mother, homemaker, and loved her children and then grandchildren with all her heart.

She was a very creative person. She loved to paint, take pictures (which she would in her later years turn into greetings cards), or hang her photos in shops around Klamath Falls. She loved arts and crafts and was always finding a new project; like making Christmas ornaments with her kids and grandkids or sand art, homemade candles, macramé or……. you name it she’s probably done it. 

She loved to dance and in the early years she would do it as much as possible. She also loved to write. She was great at keeping a journal and eventually became a self-published author. One book was a children’s book she wrote for her grandchildren called “Lolly Pop”, the other was her life story that she finished just a few weeks before her death (Soon to be self-published), as well as several short stories and poems. She loved music, art, theater. Especially things that uplifted her soul.  She was an avid reader and loved history. She continually strived to learn new things and to change and grow into a better person.

If anyone knew Marie they knew she was red, white, and blue through and through.  She loved America and was very patriotic.  One of her favorite holidays was the 4th of July. God Bless America and the American Flag waved brightly in her heart.  She loved all things red, white, and blue.

Marie was a very mischievous person. She had a playful child’s heart which all who knew her befitted from this.  She loved to dress up for holidays and play games.  She would make everything fun.  She was known as a practical joker, whether putting paper towels in morning pancakes (as an April fool’s joke) or putting a rubber band around the sink spray nozzle so when you innocently went to get her a drink of water (which she asked for) you would get sprayed with water. She would laugh and laugh.   She loved to play family softball, card games, and music and singing with her family. 

She had three great loves. Her family, her religion and her country.  She was converted to the Mormon faith in 1962 and has been an active member ever since.  Within the Mormon community through the years Marie held countless positions, from teaching young children in primary, to teaching seminary to teenagers, and too many other positions to name.  Her relationship with God was very important to her.  She loved serving her fellow friends and church community.  She strived for excellence in all she did.

Later in life Marie was diagnosed with bone marrow leukemia.  When diagnosed they only gave her 3 years to live. That was 22 years ago. She was a fierce force of nature. She survived all the odds and as a silver lining kind of gal would find ways to love, live and help others in spite of being sick.  Most people never even knew she was ill.  She inspired her family with the way she just kept living life to the fullest no matter what.

She definitely lived for each new experience, each new day, and her next adventure.

Marie was a generous soul. She was generous with her money, her time, and her heart.  She loved people.  She could make friends easily as she was funny, perky, accepting, kind and a delight to be around. If something needed to be done. She would step up and do it.

For the last few four years of life (since April 2016) Marie moved to Redmond to live with her Granddaughter Deona and family which brought her great joy, to be able to see her Great Grandsons every day and help teach them love, kindness and respect.  She also made many new friends and was able to share her love of life with them.  

She was able to make it back to the farm to live out her remaining hours and pass into the arms of her Lord and savior with her family by her side. Funeral services will be held at The Church of Latter-Day Saints in Tulelake, CA on Monday August 17, 2020 at 11:00 AM. Concluding services will be held at the Malin Community Cemetery.