Obituary of Mari Elle Neiwirth

Mari Elle Neiwirth, 21 of Twin Falls passed away April 2, 2013 at St Luke’s Magic Valley Regional Medical Center after a battle with cancer. Mari was born April 5, 1991 in Hailey, ID to Tom and Janine Neiwirth. Mari lived with her parents in Hailey for her first year of life, before moving to Twin Falls where she spent the rest of her life. Mari enjoyed being an only child until sister, Kori, arrived in 1994. It took a few years, but Mari realized she really did love her little sister, they became best friends. Mari and Kori shared a lot of private jokes, and were each other’s closest confidante. Kori will greatly miss her bigger sister’s sense of humor, technological knowledge, direction, companionship, and great advice. Mari was fortunate to live near both sets of grandparents, who played an important role in her life. She attended Harrison Elementary School, Robert Stuart Junior High, and graduated as a valedictorian in 2009 from Twin Falls High School. She was a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, Orchestra, and Finance Academy. Mari enjoyed numbers and facts and always knew that she wanted to work as an accountant. She began her college career at CSI, graduating in 2010 with an Associate of Arts in General Business. She was pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting through the BSU extension program and would have graduated in May of this year. Mari’s cousins Denim Bingham and Challis Kerr were two of her closest friends and biggest supporters. She also developed friendships at Harrison with Dakota Barton, Hailey Wall and Alexa Gregg that continued throughout her life. While other children her age were playing with toys and dolls, Mari was beginning her TV watching habit. She was a master at channel surfing, watching several programs at the same time with no patience for commercials. She learned plenty of facts from the shows she watched and liked to quote her Grandpa Neils, “you watch TV, you learn something.” She danced at Julie’s Jazzworks Dance Studio for 11 years and loved competing with her dance team. She continued to dance as long as she could, taking classes from Julie at CSI and kept her competitive spirit going even when playing Just Dance on the Wii. After Mari’s Grandma Evelyn died in 2006, she took responsibility as grief counselor for Grandpa Neils. She spent many hours joking with him on the phone and they developed a very special bond. Mari loved spending time during the summer at her grandpa’s cabin, riding four-wheelers and entertaining the family with her sense of humor. Mari had strong opinions and wasn’t bashful about letting them be known. She and her dad enjoyed having long discussions about politics, economics, and current events. To people who were close to her, Mari kept the party going with her wit and bubbly personality. She was just fun to be around, and nothing will be the same without her. During her last month, Mari adopted a Chihuahua mix, who brought her much joy even though she wasn’t feeling well. Mari is survived by her parents, sister Kori, her Grandpa Carl Neiwirth, Grandpa Neils Haslam, her dogs, Buddy and Kit, several aunts and uncles, Cindy (Gary) Anton, Alan (Leisa) Haslam, Mark Neiwirth, Marla Ward, Barb (Vic) Gentle, Carol (Chuck) Curran, Jeri Wilkinson, Jan (Jose) Gonzalez; and numerous cousins. She was preceded in death by her Grandma Margaret Neiwith and Grandma Evelyn Haslam. A visitation will be held at Rosenau Funeral Home, Friday, April 5th from 6-8 pm. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 6th at 2:00 pm at the Twin Falls Reformed Church with Pastor Philip Airhart of the First United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park. The family suggests memorial be given to the Twin Falls Animal Shelter or the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation at www.fibrofoundation.org or by mail at 20 Horseneck Lane, 2nd Flr, Greenwich, CT 06830.