MAE GRAMS PERKOVICH

A Memorial Mass will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, January 23, 2010 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Chisholm, with Rev. Fr. Fred Method celebrating. Visitation will be held for one hour prior to the mass at the church on Saturday. Private family inurnment will be held in Chisholm Cemetery at a later date. Memorials may be made to the Chisholm Foundation with funds designated for the Chisholm schools or to North Star Hospice. Arrangements are entrusted to Rupp Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Chisholm.

Mae Grams Perkovich, age 95, of Chisholm, died Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at her home following a short illness. Mae was born in Chisholm, MN on May 18, 1914 to Joseph and Mary (Archambeau) Grams. She attended Chisholm schools and was a 1932 graduate of Chisholm High School. From 1933 to 1934, she attended St. Cloud State College in St. Cloud, MN where she earned a degree in education. Following graduation in 1934, Mae taught elementary education in the St. Louis county schools for 8 years, spending 1934 in St. Louis County, 1935 in Gilbert, 1936 in Elcor, 1937-39 in McKinley and 1939-1941 in Balkan. From 1941 to 1944, Mae lived in Jacksonville, Florida where she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank and Jacksonville Air Force Base and then moved to Savannah, Georgia to work for the Chatham Field Army and Air Force Base.

In 1945, Mae returned home to Chisholm to marry Marine Captain Paul Perkovich. Paul was stationed in Santa Ana, California where the newly married couple lived and Mae taught elementary education. In 1946, Mae and Paul returned to Chisholm where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Mae raised three daughters and was active for many years as a Girl Scout troop leader and board member of the Northern Lakes Girl Scout Council. She was an active member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and served as an officer in the Altar Society, as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as longtime treasurer of the Chisholm Senior Citizens.

Her hobbies included playing bridge, sewing, embroidery, oil painting and travel.

Survivors include her daughters – Marilouise Koerber of Robbinsdale; Paulette Perkovich of Mahtomedi; Paula (Jon) Abraham of Chisholm; two granddaughters – Mae (William) Petrangelo of Shoreview and Jo (Ryan Heer) Abraham of Minneapolis; three great-grandsons – Jon, Joseph and Jack Petrangelo of Shoreview. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her husband Paul Perkovich in 1995.