Mary Elizabeth (McLean) Rivard longtime resident of Taylors Falls, Minnesota, passed away peacefully at Osceola Medical Center on Feb. 16, 2025. She was born on Oct. 18, 1934 in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, the middle of three children born to Roland and Mabel McLean.
Mary’s parents were both Polk County, Wisconsin farm families who married the summer of 1929 shortly before the Great Crash. They spent the first eight years of their marriage living and working on Mabel’s family farm near Cushing, Wisconsin, where Mary spent her early years. Fortunately, one of Rol’s brothers, J.R., was in the road construction business and Rol was able to eventually join him full-time in that business and the family moved to St. Croix Falls, where Mary and her siblings grew up and went to school.
Mary met Clayton when he was on his way to a fire in the fall of 1949. She graduated a straight A student from St. Croix Falls High School in May of 1952 and went on to complete her private secretarial course work at the Minneapolis Business College in August of 1952. Clayton and Mary were married on Oct. 3, 1953 at St. Francis Catholic Church in Franconia Township, Minnesota.
Mary and Clayton were a great team – while Clayton provided for the family, first in the auto body business and later as a welder for Midwest Gas Transmission Company, Mary took on the duties of running their household, taking care of their five children, helping to fiscally provide for the family, getting involved in their church, St. Joseph’s, and the Taylors Falls community they were a part of. Mary was the ultimate organizer of not only her household and family affairs but volunteer efforts as well.
Mary was an accomplished seamstress, knitter, quilter, wonderful baker and cook (the cookie jar was always full), bookkeeper, and volunteer extraordinaire, all while raising and caring for five children! Some of her volunteer activities included various roles within the St. Joseph Catholic Church such as the Altar Society, Pastoral Council, lector, eucharistic minister, funeral help group chair, feeding the nuns who came to teach summer catechism just to name a few. She was an election judge for 40 years, helped with the local combined charities drive and blood bank drives. In later years she was a Road to Recovery driver for cancer patients and was also active in the Taylors Falls Historical Society,
Some of Mary’s paid work over the years included working at the St. Croix Hospital as a receptionist, helping with the bookkeeping for her father’s construction business and her father-in-law’s oil and gas business, cleaning the bank and church, and washing the altar linens and priests’ clothing. She also sewed an enormous number of items throughout her lifetime: clothing for a variety of people including the dress for the first Wannigan Days queen and others, wedding, bridesmaid and prom dresses, men’s suits, curtains, Taylors Falls banners, baptismal gowns and First Communion veils, again, to name a few.
Mary also had many other interests such as downhill skiing and golf in her early years, crossword puzzles, Jeopardy, sports of almost any kind, but especially high school sports. She also traveled to Europe a couple of times with her mother and sister to visit brother Jon and his family. In later years Mary and Clayton enjoyed going to estate sales and taking trips together within the States. She was also a member of the Valley Chicks Red Hatters and was bestowed the honor of Royal Lady of the Village for the 1996 Taylors Falls Lighting Festival.
Finally, Mary was the keeper of many of our family traditions such as hand-knit Christmas stockings and sweaters, Granny Camp, hand-made sock monkeys, and some of our favorite foods such as refrigerator pickles, meat loaf for Christmas Eve dinner and her ever popular crescent rolls. She will be deeply missed!
In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death on Jan. 7, 2020 by her husband of 66 years, Clayton Rivard; her sister and brother-in-law, Patricia and Lyle McKenzie and their son, David; her brother, Jon McLean; and brother-in-law, Raymond Rivard.
She is survived by her sons, Clark (Annette), Lee (Kathi) and Alan (Sharon); daughters, Laurie Rivard (Tom Wright) and Suzanne Collins (Shawn); 14 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren, with a 19th on the way. She is also survived by her in-laws, Douglas and Kathleen Rivard of Spokane, Washington; Virginia Rivard of Taylors Falls; Keith and Kathy Rivard of Loudon, Tennessee; Anne and Ed Dombrock of Hudson, Wisconsin; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Visitation to be held from 3 – 6 p.m., on April 12, at Grandstrand Funeral Home in Osceola, Wisconsin, with a brief Celebration of Life service at 5 p.m. Private family internment will be at Kahbakong Cemetery in Taylors Falls. Memorial contributions preferred to Christian Community Home of Osceola (where she was well taken care of in her final years), Family Pathways, North Branch, Minnesota, or Alzheimer’s Association are preferred. Arrangements are with the Grandstrand Funeral Home, Osceola. Condolences may be expressed online at grandstrandfh.com.
