Marie Puckett passed away on January 24, at the age of 87. She was born in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1922 to Walter Collins and Helen Arneberg. She married Robert (Bud) Puckett in Coarsegold in June 1945. They retired in Mariposa in 1985.

An ardent believer in education, Marie earned her teacher’s credential at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and her bachelor’s degree in social science at 59." She taught school for twenty years, influencing the lives of hundreds of children, including the 1944-1945 students at Coarsegold’s one-room school house.

Marie was an extraordinary woman who loved to dance, play the piano, sing, read, write, and enjoy the company of good friends and her family. She wrote her mother’s biography, a short autobiography, and co-authored a book of cowboy poetry with Bud. When the deadline for her writers’ group would grow near, she’d take a few minutes and write the perfect limerick.

A three-time cancer survivor by the age of 63, Marie was an example of perseverance and courage to all who knew her.

Marie is survived by her husband, Bud Puckett, son Bill Puckett, currently in Guatemala, daughter Barbara Belknap and husband Doug of Juneau, AK; daughter Kathy Puckett of Collinsville, CN; and son, Pat Puckett and wife Deborah of the RO Ranch in Nevada; sister Kathleen Aldrich of Montello, WI, numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

The family wants to express its deepest gratitude to the staff of the Ewing Wing at J.C. Fremont Hospital for the compassionate and loving care Marie received every day for the past seven years.

The viewing will be from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at the Mariposa Mortuary, and services will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at 10 a.m. on Feb. 10.