Marjorie "Jean" Blain

Marjorie “Jean” Blain, 92, of Greeley, formerly of Oshkosh, passed away Monday morning, August 30, 2021, at Brookdale Senior Living in Greeley.

Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 7, 2021, at the Holechek-Bondegard Funeral Home in Oshkosh with Pastor Scotty Ray officiating.  Burial will follow in the Oshkosh City Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning until service time.

The funeral will be streamed live via the Holechek-Bondegard Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/hbfunerals) and available to watch after the service.

Memorials in Jean’s name can be made to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Oshkosh.

Marjorie Jean Cooper arrived on February 25, 1929, to Harry Clifford and Marjorie Nancy May (McIntosh) Cooper at their home 10 miles northwest of Oshkosh.  Shortly before the birth of his second daughter, Harry went to town where he met with his banker and learned the banker had a little girl named Marjorie Jean.  Wasn’t that a pretty name!  She joined her older sister, Ethel, and later enjoyed the arrival of sisters, Doris and Phyllis.

As a child she helped her father with his farming.  She loved being outside and spending that special time with her father.  She attended School District #66 and Garden County High School.

On February 24, 1947, she was united in marriage to Ellis Blain at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Oshkosh.  The family was blessed with 5 children.  

She was a multi-talented homemaker, sewing clothes for her family and secret doll clothes for her daughter’s Christmas present and a gunny sack teepee for her children’s playhouse.  Many quilts were sewn and hand quilted.  Each grandchild received a quilt and great-grandchildren received crocheted name doilies.  Many afghan throws, doilies, shawls, Christmas angel ornaments and rag rugs were crocheted and were generously gifted to family and friends.  She inherited her talent for quilting and crocheting from her great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and her mother.

Jean spent her career cooking for the Oshkosh grade school.  At home, Jean gardened and canned vegetables and fruits. Family and friends were always welcome blessed with many of her home cooked meals.  The boys would always have friends stop by when it was time to eat.  She never knew how many plates would be added to the table of six, but she always seemed to have enough to feed everyone.  Jeans’s kitchen table was always available for coffee and her seemingly never-ending supply of homemade cookies.

She also enjoyed coins and stamp collecting, reading, and doing puzzles.

Jean was a 50+ year member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and a lifetime member of the Ladies VFW Auxiliary Post #5379.

Jean is survived by her children, Eldrege Thomas (Sue) Blain, Harry Clifford (Kathy) Blain, Vernon Ellis Blain and Marjorie Jean (John) Kaps; 10 grandchildren; 17 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Harry and Marjorie Cooper; son, William Charles Blain; husband, Ellis Blain; sisters, Phyllis Swanson, Ethel Jones and Doris Waltman; and grandson, Calvary Timmerman.