Anna-Marie Burgess Klein

Anna-Marie Klein

Anna-Marie, 86, passed away on February 20, 2018.  She grew up in Saint Anthony Park, Minnesota, the second of five children of Andrew and Constance Burgess.

She loved visiting the Stolee family farm in Alberta, Canada, a trip she continued to make often.  At Minnehaha Academy, she met her best friend, Jody LeVahn, a friendship that endured a lifetime.  She majored in Religious Studies and English at Saint Olaf College (1953).  After graduation, she headed west, working with Lutheran Home Mission Churches in Montana and Washington.

In 1955, she married Don Klein in a blue brocade dress, a sign of her unique spirit.  They first lived in Norfolk, Virginia, where she taught school while Don was in the US Navy.  They lived in Liverpool, England, and Saint Paul, MN, moving to Kirkland, WA, in 1968 where they lived for the rest of their lives.  They have four children – John (Maria Pastoor), Andrew (Mary Gabriel), Joanne, and Paul, and two grandchildren – Gabrielle and Hannah.

Young Anna-Marie

Anna-Marie loved to create.  She sewed clothes for the kids’ stuffed animals, learned to spin on her Grandma Stolee’s spinning wheel, and needle-pointed unique designs using yarn she brought home from England.  She spent every day she could in her garden.  At extended family Christmas parties, she played the piano for carol sing-alongs.  To the very end, she loved to sing, with lyrics to hymns and carols being some of the last things she remembered.  Anna-Marie loved to entertain.  She hosted dinner parties and family reunions, often improvising recipes that her children still make.  She had a great gift for helping everyone feel welcome and at home.  For many years, she made her special Christmas bread for friends and family, sending the kids out to deliver the warm loaves.  Anna-Marie loved to travel.  She and Don often packed the kids in the car for camping trips where Anna-Marie demonstrated her ingenuity cooking over a fire with a bent fork to maneuver pots and cans.  She and Don traveled all over the United States, Canada, and Europe, enjoying trips into their 80s.

Anna-Marie lived a life of faith.  She brought her natural leadership skills to her work for Lutheran Home Missions as a young woman and again in her 60s.  She served on ELCA mission committees, often as the only woman and layperson.  When asked to act as secretary or make coffee, she politely declined.  For many years, she served on the board of Lutheran Maritime Ministry.  She taught Sunday School and Confirmation classes, made Biblical story boards for children, and taught children how to make clay lamps based on Biblical models.  To help put her kids through college, she went to work for the IRS, quickly earning awards and promotion in appreciation for her adroit management talent.  Anna-Marie lived a life of joy, with her big smile and infectious laugh.  She will be very much missed by her surviving family, including her husband, Don, her children and grandchildren, her brothers Andrew (Jan Schuetz) and Joseph, her brother-in-law, Richard, and by her many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

A memorial service will be held at Bothell First Lutheran Church, 10207 NE 183rd St, Bothell, Washington, 98011, on March 21, 2018, at 2:00 pm, followed by a reception in the Fellowship Hall.  No flowers by request.  Donations in her name can be made to Lutheran Maritime Ministry, NWWA, ELCA; 5519 Phinney Ave. N.; Seattle, WA 98103.  Guest Book at www.Legacy.com