Maxine Tanhoff, of Montevideo, died on Friday, January 4, 2013 at the St. Cloud Municipal Hospital at the age of 73.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 11:00 AM at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Fr. Paul Timmerman as the celebrant. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, from 5 - 7 P.M. at the Anderson-TeBeest Funeral Home in Montevideo.
Maxine Marie (Veit) Tanhoff was born on August 3, 1939 in Brainerd, MN to John and Ruby (Cofield) Veit. She was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic faith in Brainerd. She attended Kindergarten and 1st grade in Oregon, elementary school at Nokay Country School near Brainerd and attended Franklin Jr. High and Washington High School in Brainerd. At the age of 15, she began to work at the Green Lantern Dance Hall, which was owned by her parents, east of Brainerd as a waitress and helping with clean up. Following her graduation she moved to Minneapolis and worked for Prudential Insurance for a while before returning to Brainerd and working as a nurse’s aid. On July 6, 1959 she was united in marriage to Bruce Tanhoff in Watertown, SD. They lived near Wegdahl for a short time and she waitressed at Len’s Supper Club. They moved to Brainerd, where their three children were born and she helped her folks at the dance hall. In October of 1964 they moved back to Montevideo to the Tanhoff homestead on Highway 212. When her children were old enough, she went back to work at the Keiserhoff that they owned. They worked for the Eagle’s Club and she waitressed at Rosy’s Supper Club for nine years. She left there and went to work for Highway 7 Homes refurbishing mobile homes and later in the office at Friendship Homes. When Bruce worked on the natural gas pipelines in ND, SD, WY, NM and CO, she traveled with him, meeting wives from all over the U.S. When her health began to fail, she returned home to enjoy her children and grandchildren.
Her greatest accomplishment was her family and her passion was sports. She loved to watch the Vikings, Timberwolves, Lynx and Gopher football and basketball and state basketball tournaments, discussing the games with her grandsons. She went to many football and basketball games to cheer her grandsons on. Those were some of her happiest times. She was a great cheerleader, and not a quiet one. Music was also important to her and the house was always full of music - usually the Statler Brothers. She saw them in concert several times and owns about thirty cd’s and cassettes of the quartet. She was an avid reader and exchanged books with many friends at bingo. She crocheted many afghans and gave them as wedding presents and baby gifts. To keep her mind sharp, she put puzzles together and worked on puzzle books. She was a loving and devoted mother and grandmother and will be greatly missed.
She is survived by her husband, Bruce; children: Todd (and Sue) Tanhoff of Mankato, MN; Tami Tanhoff and Steve of Redwood Falls, MN and Tracey Tanhoff of Montevideo; five grandsons: Bruce E. Tanhoff, Rob Tanhoff, Connor Tanhoff, Adam Fossell and Kane Fossell; one great grandson, Riley; a brother, John Veit and his special friend May of Brainerd, MN; an aunt, Arline Eckart; a brother-in-law, Barry (and Kay) Tanhoff of Montevideo; and a sister-in-law, Dorothy Eliason of Granite Falls, MN.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Ruby Veit; her in-laws, Archie and Mabel Tanhoff; a brother-in-law, Bob Tanhoff and two sisters-in-law, RoseMary Tanhoff and Artie Jane Tanhoff.