Mary Murrill, 70, came into the world as Mary Jane Borgesen on Jan. 2, 1948, in Burlington, Iowa.  As a young girl, her parents Arlene and Byron (Bud) Borgesen raised her and her two brothers, David and John, in Austin, Minnesota.

While Mary had a firm focus on raising her children, she had a multi-faceted career throughout her life. While her children were young, she simultaneously managed farm life near Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, with her husband Arthur Knutson, and attended Austin Community College where she obtained both her LPN and RN degrees.

In 1983 Mary and her family relocated to Mesa, Arizona, where she began her full-time nursing career.  Ever the go-getter, she began by working the night shift at a nursing home. Over the next two decades, she was a respected and senior nurse in roles such as charge nurse in ER and telemetry units, urgent care facilities, and a flight nurse for rural Arizona destinations. She administered medical trials, facilitated laser surgeries, and finished her nursing career as a celebrated hospice nurse. Throughout every step, Mary was highly regarded as a caring patient advocate and treasured colleague.

In more recent times, Mary’s life centered on her role as “Grandma Extraordinaire.” Caring for family and friends, and especially her grandchildren, defined her identity.    She was a true matriarch; her dedication and unconditional love has been woven into the fabric that is the core of each of her descendants. Her will and energy has shown us all that anything is possible, and that we each have the ability defy odds against us.

It’s this determination that allowed her to defeat statistics, and beat a three-month initial mortality prognosis to live another five years, despite the nefarious effects of lung cancer.  For those who knew Mary, no one was surprised that she could do this.

Many family members remain to celebrate her life. She leaves behind one brother, John Borgesen, and her four children and their partners, Sara Zervos and Jason Harubin, Jennifer Knutson, Andrew and Lisa Knutson, and Jonas Knutson. Mary is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Emily, Anna, Maria, Amalia, Garret, Andreas, Adrianna, Olivia, Isabella, Alyssa, and Antonio, and one great-granddaughter, Sofia.

God knows Mary didn’t sit idly in life, so she’s probably organizing a rally for the Democrats and wiping the counters while enjoying Heaven. We love and miss her dearly.