Marie Anne Gutkoski Clark, 67

Marie Anne Gutkoski Clark, Jan. 6, 1957- Aug. 11, 2024 

Marie Anne Gutkoski Clark passed away at her home with her husband and son by her side on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. She was 67 years old and beloved to all of us who were blessed to be in her orbit. Marie was as prepared for death as she was for all the blessings in her life so in true Marie fashion it only feels right to let her tell her own story, a legacy we treasure.

I have lived with medical problems since age 14 and since then realized my death may come unexpectedly. I am grateful for a life lived with love far longer than I ever imagined. So in preparation I wrote my own obituary then rewrote it throughout the years while I got busy living and making memories. 

God took me home on the morning of Sunday, Aug.11, 2024. I was born in Missoula to Milly and Joe Gutkoski and when I was 14 and living in Bozeman I was diagnosed with terminal kidney failure. My mother Milly, a nursing professor at MSU, sought out experimental treatment at University of Washington medical center research wing. The experimental treatment though clinically unsuccessful actually worked for me, for a time. 

I experienced total kidney failure in 1980, received my first transplant in 1981 and a second 16 years later in 1996. I received a life saving gift of a kidney transplant from anonymous parents who saw past their immense grief in the death of their son and chose to donate organs. Their gift gave me a chance at a normal life and an opportunity to receive my greatest blessing: a chance to continue my marriage with my beloved Brian and become a mother to my son Kellin. 

I met my husband Brian at 18 when I was a senior in high school. I knew pretty quickly after we started dating "he was the one." From the beginning, he proved himself to be the perfect partner for me to embrace life's journey, my emotional compass, always making the difficult struggles with my health, worth it. We married on July 29, 1978 and lived in married student housing at Montana State where we began our journey to tackle and enjoy every day we had together, a kind of mantra that governed our marriage for nearly 50 years. 

Our amazing son, Kellin joined and completed our family on St. Patrick's Day 1989. Through his eyes, this beautiful, happy, healthy child, was often my spiritual guide and now, as a young man, husband and father to my grandson Luca he is the living embodiment of my greatest lesson to embrace life every day. 

In 1996, with a young son and devoted husband, my kidney began to fail again. In 1997, it was the selfless gift of yet another set of grieving parents who saved my life and allowed me to live nearly three more decades. 

Some things I would like you to know about me: I enjoyed sewing and pretty much altered everything I wore. I started skiing when I moved to Bozeman and was pretty decent until I gave it up after my first of three hip replacements. 

At MSU, I learned American Sign Language and toured with the MSU Theater of Silence performing shows for hearing and deaf audiences through 11 western states. I lined danced on Thursdays for many years into my 60s with amazing women, and Brian and I loved to travel across the world and had so many adventures. I was happy, always hopeful and found it easier to laugh than cry. 

Living with the awareness and possibility of death since age 14 including three battles with cancer my life ambitions were incremental. If I could only live to age 30 that would be good enough. When our son joined our family, my goal was to live long enough for Kellin to remember me. Heck I lived long enough to not only see my son graduate from high school and college but to also attend his wedding to the kindest daughter-in-law I could ask for, Lauren, and hold my amazing grandson, Luca. 

My parents Milly and Joe precede me in death, and I now join them and my younger sister Helen. 

I leave behind my husband of 46 years, Brian; our son, Kellin, his wife, Lauren and grandson, Luca. My brother, Mike and his wife, Luda; and Brian's brother, Darren, his wife, Myrna and their sons, Ryan and Kevin. 

My genuine appreciation to the many physicians and nurses who kept me alive for so many years and my mother, a nurse who was instrumental in fighting to keep me alive at 14. With her wisdom and perseverance, she sought the best medical care she could find for me until I became old enough to find it myself. 

A heartfelt thank you to my many friends and acquaintances that helped me through my life's journey with their laughter, good conversation and love. 

To my boys Brian and Kellin: you two have been the very best part of my life and I am so grateful. 

Those interested in donating in my memory please donate something much more profound than money. Check the donor box on your driver's license and talk to family and friends about donating the gift of life. Selfless strangers made a huge difference in my life. Heaven can't use your organs but they sure can make a big difference here on earth.