Maris Yeager

Maris Ann Yeager, died on May 12, 2025, at St Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Maris was born on May 30, 1960, to Dorothy and Glen Yeager, in Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Maris died 18 days before her 65th birthday.

Born with a severe congenital heart defect called Ebstein's Anomaly, Maris was a so-called "blue baby," which was due to a hole in her heart that allowed mixing of the red, oxygenated arterial blood and the blue venous blood. Her color was a beautiful hue of lavender.

Due to the seriousness of her condition, Maris was not expected to live beyond age three. Even though she sustained two strokes by age three, she fully recovered and attended public school.

In 1980, Maris graduated from Wasson High School in Colorado Springs. During her childhood and teenage years, she was a "candy-striper" at Penrose Hospital and accumulated a thousand hours of volunteer service.

In 1983, she received an Associate Degree from Adelphi Business College. Having completed her education, she worked for a decade as a receptionist at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

In her youth Maris's survival was dependent on the care provided by her family, especially the vigilant devotion of her mother Dorothy. Dr. "Buzz" Sellers. Maris's cardiologist, also provided excellent care. By age 30, Maris was on 24-hour oxygen, and surgical intervention was essential for her survival. Her brother Mark, also a cardiologist, referred her to Dr. Gordon Danielson at the Mayo Clinic, the world's expert in surgical intervention to save patients with severe Ebstein's Anomaly. In spite of a high risk of mortality, the operation in 1993 was a miraculous success, and Maris was pink for the first time in her life.

Maris recuperated and worked for many years in the business office of Penrad Imaging, a radiology practice in Colorado Springs. Nevertheless, Maris's cardiac condition progressed, and additional cardiac operations were required. Dr. Danielson had died, and Maris's outstanding cardiac surgical care was then provided by Dr. Joseph Dearani, a protégé of Dr. Danielson. Maris also had an expert team of cardiologists at the Mayo Clinic, including Dr. James Seward, Dr. Carol Warnes, the world's authority in caring for adult patients with congenital heart disease, Dr. William Miranda, Dr. Warnes' protégé, and also Dr. Hon-Chi Lee, who managed her arrhythmias via a pacemaker and defibrillator.

When Glen and Dorothy started to decline in health, Maris said, "You have taken care of me my entire life. Now it's my turn to take care of you." Her brothers Jack and Mark were able to "tag team" to allow Maris scheduled vacation time away from home.

Through the years, Glen and Dorothy had passed, Maris's cardiac condition continued to progress, and she was eventually approved for cardiac transplantation. Given the winter weather in Colorado and Minnesota, Maris moved to Rochester in 2014, and was thus immediately available if a donor heart became available. Having left the mile-high altitude of Colorado and with the integrated care provided by her Mayo Clinic doctors, Maris's panoply of medical problems remained stable, and cardiac transplantation was never required. Over the last decade, Maris and her brothers raved about Dr. William Ward, her primary care physician.

Maris was living independently in her "Viking condo" at Valhalla until 2017, when she had a prolonged head cold that culminated in neurological symptoms and paralysis. She was cared for at Mayo and recovered sufficiently for transfer to Samaritan Bethany where she received superb 24-hour care. In spite of being wheelchair bound, Maris was quite active in the social events at Samaritan Bethany, including the preparation of monthly calendars with all the scheduled activities and her own creative grace notes.

Her commitment to the other patients at Samaritan Bethany was exemplified by the following event. A neighbor with significant dementia wheeled herself into Maris's room uninvited. Maris immediately had a broad smile, invited the patient to come closer and asked if she were ready to sing. Maris began singing "You are My Sunshine," and the lady smiled broadly and joined in singing almost word for word. Maris also enjoyed singing with the choir in the Gonda Building at the Mayo Clinic.

Maris was a devout Christian and most recently attended Trinity Lutheran church in Rochester where she loved to participate in the choir. Maris had numerous friendships with the parishioners, especially Ruth Benning and Ed and Lori Schultz. She was especially grateful to Pastor Schwartz who provided individual care and support, exemplified by his almost daily visits during her hospitalizations in the last month of her life.

Maris also loved every canine, including her two schnauzers, Miss Fritzi 1 and Miss Fritzi 2, as well as the therapy dogs of the wonderful caregivers at Samaritan Bethany.

We would be remiss not to mention that Maris was a devoted sports fan, with a memory for players and statistics from years past. Having spent over 50 years in Colorado, she was especially devoted to the Denver Broncos and Nuggets and the Colorado Rockies. Living in Minnesota, she also became an avid fan of the Vikings. We picture Maris with an ebullient grin watching a football game with likeminded fans on the first floor of Samaritan Bethany. For the games she loved wearing an old-style leather helmet worn in the movie Leatherheads.

The following event illustrates Maris's incredible fortitude. In August of 2024, Maris needed a scheduled generator change for her pacemaker/defibrillator, which was performed flawlessly by Dr. Dearani and his team. Sadly, and for unclear reasons, Maris sustained a brain hemorrhage 10 days later. Her blood thinner had been in a therapeutic range, but it was discontinued to minimize the risk of further bleeding. Indeed, the bleeding stopped, but over the next month, Maris sustained two strokes. Of course, a brain hemorrhage and two strokes could easily have been fatal. Regardless, Maris stabilized, her blood thinner was judiciously restarted, and she was transferred back to Samaritan Bethany, where she received rigorous stroke rehabilitation with physical, occupational and speech therapy. It was almost unbelievable that Maris made a full recovery, and her stroke rehab. was discontinued in March. Maris returned to her routine, and she shared a wonderful photo on April 8th of her monthly calendar.

The next event was that Maris contracted Norovirus or "bird flu" in mid-April. Although her flu symptoms resolved, she had periods of altered mental status requiring hospitalization. There were various possible sources of infection that were treated aggressively, but Maris ultimately succumbed to septic shock. It is especially notable that her heartbeat ticked like an atomic clock with nary a skipped beat until she stopped breathing.

Maris loved the movie Brave, especially the lead character Princess Merida. They say that the main theme of the movie was "There are those who say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own, but I know better. Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it." Merida became a talisman for Maris, and we accordingly nicknamed her Mer.

Maris was an inspiration to everyone she encountered. In spite of incredible health challenges, she derived fortitude, courage and bravery from her parents. She was appropriately hypervigilant about her symptoms, but she never expressed a single thought of being a victim. Instead, she manifested an unbelievably positive attitude and gratefulness for every day of her life, an exemplar for us all.

Maris is survived by her three older brothers, Bill of Tarzana, California, Jack of Baton Rouge Louisiana, and Mark and his wife Mary of Coral Gables, Florida. Maris is also survived by her niece Adrianna of Altadena, California, and her nephew Jared, of Culver City, California, and their families. She is predeceased by her mother, Dorothy, and father, Glen, who rest in Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs. Maris's life-long best friend, Linda Olson, of Colorado Springs, also survives her.

The family expresses heartfelt thanks to the management and staff of Samaritan Bethany for the loving and exceptional care they provided Maris over the last 8 years.

Pastor Schwartz will officiate at the memorial service for Maris that will be held at Trinity Lutheran on Friday, June 13th at 11 AM. The event will be live-streamed via the following link https://www.trinitylutheranchurch.org/sermons-2/, which will also be uploaded to the Trinity Lutheran YouTube channel.

The family requests that donations be made to their favorite charity in Maris's honor. Please sign the electronic guestbook at https://www.ranfranzandvinefh.com/obituaries/maris-yeager.