Mavis Fugere

Mavis passed away peacefully early Saturday morning in her home surrounded by her children, JoAnne Ussery, Charles (Julie) Fugere, Lynnette Oser, Jason Fugere and her grandchildren, Brandy (Joe) Schroeder and Brett Ussery.

She is also preceded in death by her husband, Wilfred Fugere, her parents, nine siblings and multiple nieces and nephews. She also mourned two sons- in-law, Eugene Ussery and Steven Oser and two grandsons, Marc Ussery and Cody Oser.

She is survived by eleven grandchildren, Scott (Deb) Ussery, Ryan (Erica) Fugere, Travis (Des) Fugere, Abbe (Jamie) Gilroy, Gabe (Joanna) Oser, Skye and Jasmine Fugere, and Allison and Anthony Fugere. She is also survived by seventeen great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Mavis was born near Hawley, Minnesota and grew up on her parents’ farm. She was second youngest of ten siblings. She attended school in Hawley. She speaks highly of her strong work ethic and family commitment that was created by her parents and siblings growing up on the farm and having to workday and night alongside each other. She married Wilfred Fugere on June 4, 1955 and they lived in Moorhead, Minnesota until his death on December 3, 1986.

Mavis was very proud to be one of the first women entrepreneurs. She owned and operated five restaurants during her career. She had the Chick-In, two versions of the Chef’s Grill, the Courthouse Café and the Stockyards Café. She told the story that when she wanted to open the Chick-In, she was not able to get a loan from the bank because she was a woman. Her husband had to co-sign for her. But that didn’t stop her.

She loved communicating with family and friends. She called everyone consistently to keep up on current events. She loved her Facebook page and was active up to her death. She had 177 Facebook friends that she commented with daily. She thrived on seeing what everyone was doing. She loved her Fox News and watched it every day. She loved her crossword puzzles, cards, and word games. She played her games up until the very end and still enjoyed beating everyone.

Obtaining the 100 year mark was monumental for her. As she approached the century mark, she had several goals. She wanted to live long enough to have a joint party celebrating her 100th birthday and her great grandson and granddaughter’s graduation. Her next goal was to live long enough to have her 2024 vote count, see her Trump win and watch the Inauguration on January 20th. She accomplished them all. 

We can’t thank Hospice of the Red River Valley enough for their compassion and care for her in her last weeks. She was able to pass with grace and dignity in her home. We would appreciate any donations to be sent to them in her name.

She was the matriarch to so many and will be deeply missed and her legacy will live on forever in our hearts.

A Celebration of her Life will be held on Saturday, July 5th at 11 AM at her cabin on Turtle Lake.