Obituary of Mary Selin

Mary Alice Selin, 97, of Cambridge died Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at the Grandview Christian Home. Mary Clark was born on November 12, 1909, in Baxter, MN, to parents Martin Luther Clark and Josephine (Krolek). Bain, MN, was a brand new railroad town in 1912, and Mary's adventurous father moved there with his family. They lost their mother to a mental collapse in 1914, but the family stayed together and Mary eventually entered elementary school in Bain. The children narrowly escaped the Moose Lake fire in 1918 when the town of Bain was destroyed. M.L. Clark moved the children to Minneapolis then where Mary completed elementary school and 3 years of high school. She married John Leroy Selin, Jr., (son of Swedish immigrants), an accountant, in 1930. They lived in Minneapolis until their move to their Walbo farm in 1945. She was a member of Wyanett Free Church for over 60 years. She served there as Sunday School teacher, White Cross worker, and as an informal Sunday School "taxicab" driver. When her children were all in school, Mary began her work for the Cambridge State Hospital for 18 years, during which time she completed her high school diploma and training to work as a psychiatric technician and later as a cottage supervisor. She and her husband moved to Stanchfield when Mary retired from the State Hospital, and at 84, she finally scaled down to an apartment in Cambridge. Maintaining her sometimes feisty and always independent spirit, she was known for her sweet nature, her tart wit, and her love for God, her family, and missions. She loved feeding the birds, fishing, wildflowers, gardening, poetry, reading, painting, and working puzzles. In the nursing home, she loved to tell people, "Did you know that Jesus loved us so much….just sinners like us….that he died on the cross so we could go to Heaven?" She is survived by one sister-in-law Mildred Clark of Braham, 4 of her 7 children: Kenneth Selin and his wife Joyce(Trester) of Princeton; Marilyn VanderPloeg and her husband Roger of Mason City, Iowa; Harold Selin and his wife Becky (Falk) of Arlington, Washington; and Roger Selin and his wife Marilee (Drown) of Walbo. She is also survived by daughter-in-law Geneva (Dick) of Walbo; and daughter-in-law Edna (George)of St. Louis Park. She has 34 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren, and 18 great, great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband, John Selin, Jr., sisters Ella, Dora, and Peg, brother Chris, sons Dick and George, daughter Janet, twin infant grandsons(Dick and Geneva Selin's), twin infant great-grandsons(Rick and Jody Selin's), and one more infant great-grandson(C.R. and Judy Rush).