Maryann Shores

Maryann Minnette Shores, 89, a resident of Fergus Falls, died Saturday, March 10, 2012, at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. She was born April 16, 1922 in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, the daughter of Robert and Catherine Mary (Page) Tolbert. Maryann attended school in Pelican Rapids, graduating in 1939. After high school Maryann attended Moorhead State Technical College for two years. On April 10, 1942 she married Vernon Shores in Pelican Rapids. Maryann worked as the secretary for the Dean of Men at MSTC, and for the Rural Electric Association, as a Turkey Plant enumerator, at the U.S. Post Office in Detroit Lakes, for the Department of Agriculture in Minnesota, for Church Directories, and doing toy parties. She was involved in many organizations including First UCC, in Fergus Falls and as a Minnesota state officer, with the Teilhard Association in New York, and at the U.N. Peace Presentation in 1985 in New York. Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband Vernon; her three day old daughter Mary Sue; her sister, Emily Elliott; and her grandparents. Survivors include her children: Muretta Scott, Timothy Shores, Lucetta Shores, Colleen Morton, Nathan Shores, and Melody Shores; nine grandchildren: Paula Buchholz, Denise Wandersee, Benjamin Marty, Joseph Marty, Seth (Ed) Marty, Luke Morton, Christopher Osberg, Andrew Osberg, and Allison Osberg; four great-grandchildren: Kaitlyn Buchholz, Weston Buchholz, Derek Wandersee and Jennifer Wandersee; and her brother, Robert Tolbert.  Maryann said that she wanted to "maintain her identity in the complexity of greater reality", a quote from the French Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin whose life she studied and on whose philosophy she was an expert. She was widely known for her artistic interpretations of his vision. Her own addition to a body of integrative theology is great, as anyone who has come to know it can testify. Earlier, Maryann was invited to speak at an international colloquium for peace at the UN in New York. She wrote several books of poetry and a book of her own philosophy that stemmed from study of Teilhardian thought. Her poetry and artwork have been included in a compendium of writings entitled "The Desire to be Human" as well as often published in the International Teilhard Newsletter by the Teilhard Association in London. We are greatly saddened by Mom's death and pray her soul has found completion in the greater reality she understood so well. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the church. Visitation: One hour prior to the service at the church Memorial Service: 1 p.m. Friday, March 16, 2012, at First United Church of Christ in Fergus Falls. Clergy: Reverend Thomas Gard Interment: Scambler Cemetery, Pelican Rapids Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls is in charge of the arrangements.