Katrine Meri Keranen Savoie, 38, died Saturday, May 9, 2009, at MeritCare Hospital, in Fargo.
She was born to Genevieve (Aho) and Leon Keranen on June 16, 1970, at St. Joseph's Hospital, Park Rapids. She was baptized into the Christian faith on July 17, 1970 by her uncle, the late Rev. Toivo Esala, at Trinity Lutheran Church in New York Mills. She was confirmed in May 1988. She participated in Active Christian Teens and was both a Sunday school teacher and Vacation Bible School teacher. She was a vibrant, active, young woman her whole, short life. She graduated from New York Mills High School in 1988 where she was a basketball and wrestling cheerleader, member of the National Honor Society and the Eagles concert and marching band. Her summers were spent as a lifeguard at the New York Mills municipal pool. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in June 1993 with a bachelor's degree in education. In 2000, she completed her master's degree from Southwest State University, Marshall, Minn. She had a special interest in her Finnish heritage and in the summer 1993, she traveled to Kauhava, Finland, where she was an English instructor for children ages 5-7 at a private pre-school from 1993-1995. She returned to the states for one year, but missed Finland and the school so much she returned for the school year of 1996-1997.
Her love of the Finnish language led her to Salolampi, the Concordia Finnish language village in Bemidji. She started as a villager in 1984, progressing to a counselor and credit teacher and credit coordinator from 1996-1998. She shared her knowledge of the Finnish language by teaching Finnish classes at Finn Creek and through Community Education in both New York Mills and Sebeka. She promoted the Salolampi language camps through her position as a board member on the Salolampi Foundation board from 2000 to the present.
She began her position as K-12 art teacher in Sebeka in September 1997. And through the past 12 years she has shared her talents in the following ways: technical director for school plays, all-school play director, one act play director, eighth-grade class advisor, school patrol advisor, National Honor Society committee, executive committee, and health and safety committee. She was serving as Education Minnesota Sebeka president and on the committee for Teachers Rights Advocate for Education Minnesota.
One of the achievements of which she was most proud was the completion of the Sebeka City mural project of which she was the director.
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She married Daniel Martin Savoie on June 5, 2003, at Pukalani Falls, Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii, at sunrise. Their home in Park Rapids was shared with their pets, Sargent and Licorice. She and Dan, the love of her life, shared many activities, including cooking, canoeing and family times.
Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, at Sebeka School with the Revs. Jon Haakana and Steve Bruer officiating. A private family inurnment will take place at a later date at the Woodland Cemetery in New York Mills. Arrangements were entrusted to Wevley Funeral Home of Sebeka.
Survivors include her husband, Dan; mother, Genevieve Keranen; brothers, Erik and Peter Keranen; mother -in-law, Joanne Savoie; sisters-in-law and spouses, Anne Marie and Kim Menard, Kathy and Terry Fasteen, Karen and Phil Seabloom, Nancy and Rick Krump, Donna and Dick Olson, Linda Savoie, Angela and Marc McDougall; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
She was preceded in death by her father, Leon Rodney Keranen; and grandparents, Edward and Esther Aho and Elmer and Edna Keranen.
