Marylou Krueger

MISSOULA ~ Marylou Krueger was born on April 27th, 1947 to Joseph and Kathryn Garban. She was the youngest of 4 children, and early life could find her watching big brothers Larry and Joe race motorcycles, or causing trouble with her sister, Kathy. Growing up near Los Angeles, Marylou often found herself at the beach, and this love of waves carried with her throughout her life.

Marylou’s teenage years were spent between the beach, friends, or working at the telephone company at 15 years of age. Through hard work and constant savings, Marylou bought her first car at 15, a 1956 Chevy 210 hardtop. She convinced her Dad to change the transmission from an automatic to a manual, a transition I would guess would haunt him as her mechanic! No stretch of blacktop was safe from burnouts, and Marylou went through as many clutches as she did rear tires! During this rebellious time in Marylou’s life, she found that she loved rock and roll music, especially Elvis! An infatuation that lasted a lifetime!

It was this love of speed, burnouts, and fast cars that led to a serendipitous meeting when a LAPD Officer pulled her over for doing a burnout and speeding. Marylou did NOT like cops (they gave her too many tickets), but she was close to losing her license because of so many previous tickets. This particular cop offered to waive her ticket if she would go get a cup of coffee with him, which she flatly rebuked. Her sister, Kathy, was riding shotgun at the moment, and convinced Marylou to avoid the ticket, and to go out on one date with a cop. She said that it would be something she could tell her kids later in life, and Marylou begrudgingly agreed. Fast-forward several years, and that coffee meeting turned into a wonderful marriage to the father of her three children.

While living in Los Angeles, Marylou and Dennis Krueger had three children, Shannon, Jason, and David. Dennis remained an LAPD Officer, and was assigned to the notorious SIS Detective unit. Week-long stakeouts, pursuits (in Marylou’s fast cars that Dennis would use for surveillance), and shootouts led to Dennis retiring in 1983 after 20 years in law enforcement. The entire family then moved to Divide Colorado on Ridge Drive, a one-mile long dirt road where Marylou’s brother, Joe, and sister Kathy lived. Marylou was employed by the school district as a para-educator, and seemed to have special way with children with special needs, especially Autism. The family remained here until the winters became too cold, and they moved to Carson City, Nevada in 2013.

Once in Nevada, Marylou continued her work with special needs kids, while the family moved between Reno and Carson City to a place called “Joy Lake”. Joy Lake was an 80-acre parcel with several flat-front western buildings, a 10-acre lake with enormous trout, and a stream that ran through the front yard. Dennis was the caretaker of this piece of property for some eccentric senior citizens (Jaque and Ethel Morvay) that lived in Reno. Joy Lake proved to be a large workload, as the roads always needed to be raked of pine needles, each building needed to be spotlessly cleaned, the pond needed to have algae removed, the Yurts needed to have snow removed from their roofs, and the dozens of ducks, chickens, geese, and peacocks needed to be tended to. The Morvays would visit 1-2x per month, and would never bring other visitors. Nonetheless, the 80 acres needed to be well tended to! 

In 1996, Dennis unexpectedly passed away from medical complications. This left 15-year old David and Marylou (who was already working two jobs) to tend to Joy Lake. They banded together and would wake up several hours before school to work on the resort, then go to school/work/sports practice, then come home and work into the late night. They kept this grueling routine up until a massive snowstorm dumped 4 feet of snow overnight. David plowed the roads for almost 20 hours straight, getting the truck stuck 5 times, the last time it was immoveable. They had to eventually have a front-end loader come and plow them out on Christmas eve. As soon as he left, Marylou slipped on the ice and shattered her wrist. They knew at this point that their time at Joy Lake needed to come to an end, and they moved into Carson City the next summer.

After David graduated high school he moved to Utah for school and football, while Shannon lived in Tacoma WA, and Jason eventually moved back to Carson City from Portland. David and high school sweetheart Denise moved to Missoula Montana, while Shannon and husband Jeff settled in Gig Harbor Washington. During this several-year period, Shannon and Jeff had their two children, Maggie and Katie, Jason had his two children, Dennis and Lauren, and David and Denise had their son, Kellan.

Marylou, Jason, Dennis and Lauren all moved to Missoula in 2014, where Marylou once again started working with special needs students. In 2020, Marylou’s first car (the 1956 Chevy) was restored from the grave, turning the rusting pile of metal into a sleek, black, rumbling work of art. This gave her immense pleasure, and every kid and grandkid secretly said a prayer every time they got in the passenger seat with her. Time had not diminished her ability to roast those tires!

The last chapter of Marylou’s life saw her diagnosed with lung cancer (which she beat), and later Acute Myloid Leukemia (AML), which she eventually lost the battle to on October 21st, 2024, as Grandson Dennis and son David sat with her, watching a gorgeous sunrise and holding her hands. The night prior was a gift however, as all of her loved ones were able to have time alone with her to talk about her wonderful life, and she was lucid and feisty as always. It’s A Wonderful World by Louise Armstrong was played several times, intermixed with Elvis hits.

Now let’s talk about some of Marylou’s intangibles. First of all, she was the strongest woman many of us ever knew. Her fight a vigor was always impressive, but none could hold a candle to her artful way of colorfully stringing together cuss words like she was the Picasso of cussing, making even the roughest sailor blush. Marylou loved her family and cherished the times when we would all be together, laughing, joking, and causing a ruckus! She was also very close with her brother, Joe, and nephew (who she viewed as a son), Todd. 

Marylou absolutely loved animals, and it is safe to say that she liked them more than people on most days! She was the neighborhood “crazy deer lady”, and has practically adopted a small herd of deer at her house. One family of deer has a genetic problem with their lower jaw (several of the offspring have had this), so she would always cut up apples and feed them from her hand. I suppose her touch with those with special needs extended to the animal kingdom as well.

Christmas was a special time for her, and she always made both Christmas Eve and Christmas special for her family, even into adulthood. Marylou seemed to bring some Christmas magic with her every year, and she always loved to see Christmas lights and decorate her tree while eating Chinese food (an odd little tradition)!

Marylou’s favorite phrase was “Fuck it!”, and she used it liberally. She would often say “Fuck it, leave it, and move on” when things were out of her control. I suppose this was her version of the serenity prayer! She was very proud of doing things her own unique way, and in fact, one of the last songs we played for her was Elvis’s rendition of “My Way”. 

You certainly did it your way Louie, and we all love you. We will miss you, but know that your fun memories will live on in each of us, and you will never be forgotten. Per your wishes, your ashes will be placed in the trunk of your 56 Chevy, and I can promise the burnouts will continue. Thanks for everything. You were pretty great.