Maxine Elaine (Guderjohn) Meichle

Maxine Elaine (Guderjohn) Meichle, 92, of Idaho Falls, passed away December 26, 2024, at her home surrounded by her loving family. She was under the care of Aspen Home Health and Hospice.

Maxine was born January 6, 1932, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Frederick Carl Guderjohn and Margaret Ellen (Fulkerson) Guderjohn and was the older sister to Geraldine (Guderjohn) Muhly. Growing up, she loved to read, draw, attend church camp, and loved to visit her Uncle Stewart's ranch to ride horses with her cousins. She attended schools in Idaho Falls, graduating in 1950 from Idaho Falls High School and also attended Idaho State University. She played violin and sang in the IFHS and ISU orchestras and choirs. She was active in the Civil Air Patrol and was a talented skier and competed in local ski races. Maxine worked for her father in the summers at Ready To Pour Concrete, doing secretarial and bookkeeping work.

On August 6, 1952, she married Frederick Anthony Meichle in Elko, Nevada. They moved to San Luis Obisbo, California, while Fred attended Cal Poly State University. Maxine worked as a secretary there until the birth of their first child, Michael. Upon Fred's graduation, they moved to Baltimore, Maryland, then to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where their daughter, Debbie, arrived. Soon after, they moved back to their hometown of Idaho Falls, Idaho, where their son, Kim, and later, daughter, Sonja, were born.

While raising their four children, Maxine pursued many other creative endeavors, including sewing clothes for her kids and tending to her large flower garden. She volunteered planting roses in the city parks as a member of the Syringa Garden Club. She played violin in the Idaho Falls Symphony until arthritis forced her to stop. She then started seriously pursuing art and was a gifted artist, receiving many art ribbons at the fair. Maxine was a charter member of the Eagle Rock Art Guild and showed her work every year in the Sidewalk Art Show. She was also a member of the Idaho Watercolor Society and a lifelong member of St. John Lutheran Church, where she also attended elementary school.

After Fred's retirement, they enjoyed sightseeing, photography, their grandchildren, and traveling, (cruises to Hawaii and Alaska and their dream trip to China). Maxine was a survivor, enduring multiple bone fusions, brain surgery, and breast cancer, always making full recoveries. She later persevered through decades of dementia, but still enjoyed her family and her kitty into her last days.

Maxine is survived by her son, Michael (Kathy) Meichle of Salt Lake City, UT; daughter, Debra (Thomas) Brucker of Brookfield, WI; son, Kim Meichle of Salt Lake City, UT; and daughter, Sonja (David) Johnson of Idaho Falls; five grandchildren, David Meichle, John (Stacy) Meichle, Sarah Johnson, Elizabeth Brucker, and Margaret Brucker; and one great-grandchild, Isabelle Meichle.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Fred and Margaret Guderjohn; husband, Frederick Meichle; sister, Geraldine Muhly; and Gerri's husband, Walter Muhly.

The family would like to thank the kind staff of Aspen Home Health and Hospice and Idaho Falls Community Hospital for their kind loving care of Maxine during her last days.

Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 4, 2025, at St. John Lutheran, 290 7th St. with Pastor Stephen Weems officiating. The family will visit with friends and family Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. prior at the church. Interment will follow at Fielding Memorial Park Cemetery in Idaho Falls.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. John Lutheran Church or Eagle Rock Art Guild.