Marya Manfred, 72, of Luverne and Worthington, died Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, at the Good Samaritan Society Mary Jane Brown Home in Luverne.
A celebration of Marya’s life will take place in Luverne in May.
Marya was born Dec. 5, 1949, to Frederick and Maryanna (Shorba) Manfred in Minneapolis. She grew up and attended elementary school in Bloomington. She moved to Luverne at age 10 and graduated from Luverne High School in 1967.
After high school Marya moved to Colorado for one year to study singing, music composition and piano performance. She then finished her bachelor’s degree, majoring in art, at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Marya was a member of NAMI for many years. She worked for the Consumer Survivor Network at Marshall before becoming a certified peer specialist at Southwestern Mental Health Center in Worthington and Luverne, where she taught art therapy. She was deeply respected for her work there.
Marya enjoyed traveling with friends and loved the theater, movies and art museums. One of Marya's first paintings, The Dance of Life, which is a celebration of the human form and of life itself, will be on display at the History Center in Luverne at selected times over the next years.
Marya is survived by her sister, Freya Manfred and her husband, Thomas Pope, both of Stillwater; and two nephews, Nicholas Pope and Ethan Pope, both of the Twin Cities.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Frederick Manfred Jr. in 2016.
Arrangements are provided by Dingmann Funeral Home of Luverne, dingmannandsons.com.
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