Liisi Reed

Marjetta Reed, 97 years old, born Liisi Marjetta Iivonen in Karppila village, Karelian Finland on July 24, 1918, passed away peacefully on 11 August of natural causes at home in East Brunswick, NJ in the presence of her youngest daughter, Lisa Reed. When she was one year old, Marjetta survived the Spanish Flu, which took the lives of her two brothers in Finland. Marjetta’s parents, Fiia and Antti Iivonen, sent their daughter to visit her Uncle Emil in Quincy, MA when she was 20 years old. Marjetta travelled by boat from Helsinki to England, and then crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary. World War II broke out and her uncle said she shouldn’t cross the ocean when it was so dangerous so she stayed in the US. The Soviet Union forcibly annexed Karelian Finland after two Winter Wars, and Marjetta’s parents resettled in western Finland during World War Two. Only a sewing bag Marjetta made in the first grade survived from her home in Karppila. Marjetta met her husband, Edwin Reed of Automba, MN at a Finnish community dance in Massachusetts, and they were married on August 31, 1941. She became an American citizen in February, 1944. Edwin was a pilot in the US Army Air Corps and subsequently worked for Norton Company. They lived in Worcester, MA, Park Forest, IL, and Whittier and La Habra, CA. They had three children, Allan, Karen, and Lisa. During this time, Marjetta was active as a precinct voting judge and with the Lutheran Women’s League. She enjoyed bowling and played cards with her friends for many years. After Edwin passed in 1975, Marjetta became a Nurse’s Assistant and she enjoyed working for several years at Brea Hospital. In 2007, Marjetta moved to East Brunswick, NJ to live with her daughter, Lisa. She is survived by her three children, her daughter-in-law Ayo and son-in-law Reggie, seven grandchildren (Atem, Oba, Marjetta, Matthew, William, Nicole, and Fija), six great grandchildren (William, Nicole, Kaija, Kai, Makena, and Micah) and her cousin Bertha Bjork in Florida and family in Finland. Marjetta is remembered fondly as a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and a very sociable person with a wonderful sense of humor. Marjetta will be buried next to her husband at Memory Garden, Brea, CA after a memorial service with family and friends there at noon on 20 August, 2015.

Tributes

Liisi Reed

July 24, 1918 - August 11, 2015