Marlene Heth, age 91 of Westhope, passed away on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at a Bottineau nursing home.  Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 10:00 am at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Westhope.  Visitation will be on Monday starting at 5:00 pm with a prayer service at 7:00 pm at the church.

Marlene Alice Himle, 91, eldest daughter of Theodore and Allie (Baska) Himle was born June 12, 1933 in rural Antler, North Dakota. She was raised in many places all in the Antler area and graduated from Antler High School in 1951. Marlene liked to 'show and tell' about all the places she and the rest of the kids lived in the area.

Following high school, she took a job as a telephone operator in Bismarck and it was during one of her bus trips back to Bismarck that she met her future husband, LeRoy Heth. They were married on June 27, 1954, shortly after LeRoy returned from his Marine tour in Korea. The couple lived for a short time in Crosby & Westhope before settling in Flaxton, ND, where they would run the gas station for the next decade. They quickly built their family with Stanley born in 1955, Steven in 1956 and Roger in 1957. Robin completed the family in 1966.

While raising her boys, Marlene was active as a Cub Scout leader. She also really enjoyed Bowling League & collected a boxful of trophies from the Lignite Alley.

A move was on the horizon, and on September 23, 1967 the family moved to rural Antler to the Himle family farm where they would remain until LeRoy's retirement in 1989. While living at the farm Marlene held many different jobs including planting trees for the Mouse River Soil Conservation Service for many years, working at the old Gateway in Westhope, Baumann's Jack & Jill, baking at Johnny's Processing and cooking at the Westhope Home. She was an active member of the Rebecca Lodge in Antler, the T&C Homemakers, and Trinity Lutheran Church of Westhope.

Marlene and LeRoy moved to the Mouse River Park area after LeRoy's retirement. Marlene soon found the job that she would continue until her retirement – her true calling – working as a telephone salesperson at MTI in Mohall.  It's often been said that Marlene could sell ice to an eskimo!

For many years they spent half of their time at Quartzsite, Arizona. In 2005 they moved to a home in Landa where they spent their summers.

LeRoy passed away in September 2010 but Marlene wasn't quite finished with Quartzsite yet and spent many more winters with her friends there. In 2017 she moved to Westhope and remained there until she entered the Bottineau Good Samaritan Home in August, 2022. As always with Marlene, her friends were where she was, making quick friends and becoming one of the "Three Amigos"!

Marlene passed away on Thursday, April 10th. She is survived by sons Stanley (Lavonne) of Paola, KS, Steven (Ginny) and daughter Robin (Dwight) Tolstad all of Westhope, daughter-in-law Valerie Heth of rural Antler, grandchildren Kristie (Robert) Chavez of Paola, KS, Christopher (Tiffany) Heth of Minot, James (Holly) Heth of Hazen, Aaron (Samantha) Heth of West Fargo, Devin (Kate)  Tolstad of rural Landa, Preston (Heidi) Tolstad of Nevis, MN, Tina (Drew) Dockter of Valley City, Krystal (Kyle) Heidema of Belgrade, MT, Jonathan Heth of Minot, Erik Heth of Westhope, Leah Heth of Antler; 15 great grandchildren; siblings Don Himle,  Marjorie (Willard) Steinhaus, Shirley (Rodney) Conway and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, son Roger, granddaughter Jenna Tolstad and 3 great-grandchildren; siblings Robert Himle, Gordon (Buzzy) Himle, Jeanette Larson, Jean Aalund, Merle Himle and Maurice Himle.