Mary Marie Heikkola

Mary Marie Heikkola went home to be with the Lord on November 15, 2017.

Mary Marie was born to Jess and Maude Butler of Buffalo, Missouri on March 31, 1928. She was the youngest of seven children and was born prematurely and weighed only two and a half pounds. Her dad made her first bed out of a shoebox and kept it under the heat stove in the living room to keep her warm. While growing up on the farm in Buffalo, Missouri. Her chores began at the early age of five. And singing while she Milked the cows, fed the chickens & shucked the corn was a must. Her mother use to tell her  “Sing faster, Mary Marie, sing faster”. Chores were not her top priority any day of the week. Finding her perched on the back of her Mule “Jack” singing and yodeling, or joining her family reading, and singing at the end of the day’s work was the highlight of everyday for Mary.

Along with the busyness of living on the farm, she also attended school at the age of four years old in a one-room schoolhouse located a mile from the farm with her big sister, Eliza Mae. At 15, Mary played clarinet in the Buffalo High School band. In 1943, she and her father and mother relocated to Ventura, California to help with the War Effort. Her father worked with the Seabees and her involvement included participating with the USO and singing with an acapella choir. After graduating from high school in California, she worked as a telephone operator for Western Electric in Van Nuys. This is where she met her husband, Olin Matt Heikkola, who served in the US Navy. Mary and Olin raised three children, Gene, Janeen & Marie. Upon Olin’s retirement, they moved to Boise, Idaho in 1976.

Mary was very involved with the Idaho State Legislature in Boise, and served in many aspects of the judicial system throughout most of her life. Starting at an early age in Missouri, she would ride with her father into the town square and watch the ticker tape at the local newspaper. Which usually involved the politics of the day. Her knowledge of our nation’s history, and our government was evident in all aspects of her life. The Love of God and country was her passion. And those that knew her it was the forefront in conversations, songs, and deeds. She loved to honor and support all branches of the military, and wore the red white and blue with honor and pride.

Her favorite past time was reading her number one book, the Bible. However her love of history and reading was the special bond she had with her granddaughter Abby.  They shared many books through out the years with each other. And an occasional Chinese checkers game. Games, puzzles, coloring and making the grandkids feel a part of her life and legacy was her joy.

The love of music was apparent in all aspects of her life. She had a song for everything and everyone. She could recite lyrics word for word, and had a story to go with each of them. Her favorite saying was
“Somewhere, sometime, someone has written a song about it”.

Mary is survived by her son, Olin “Gene” Heikkola; her daughter, Janeen Bennett Nimmo; her four grandchildren, Tana Elsethagen, Matt Bennett, Julie Smith, and Sherri Knuff; and her six great-grandchildren, Matt Eugene Bennett, Jr., Abby Elsethagen, Lily Elsethagen, Jessica Knuff, Trevor Knuff, and Nathan Knuff. Her legacy lives on in all our hearts and we look forward to seeing her again in Heaven.