Mairi Ann Nielsen's Obituary
Mairi Ann Nielsen (1976-2024) has boarded her flight to her next adventure. She loved adventures.Thursday morning, June 27 at 3:10 MST Mairi, surrounded by family, left her mortal body.
Mairi loved many things, and everything that she loved, she loved with her entire being. The small things were just as important as the big. Seeing the beauty, good, fun and worth in everything and everyone. Mairi was born in Fremont, California to Scott and Lora McAllister. She was the eldest of ten children, and blazed the trail for her siblings. She taught them how to be silly with abandon, to embrace interests fully, and to not worry about what anyone else in the world thought. She was the original and ultimate goofball!
Knowledge and exploration were two of Mairi’s passions and loves in this life. In pursuit of these things, she received her Associate’s degree from Snow College, Bachelor's degree from Utah State University and then advanced to receive a Master’s of Baat (Behavior Analysis and Therapy) from Southern Illinois University. Empathy, sympathy and compassion were her default. She served a Spanish speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in New York City. She loved the eclectic charm of the Big Apple and would often speak fondly of that city. Everywhere she went, she made friends easily and quickly. Mairi’s spark was magnetic. People gravitated to her and she welcomed them. Through her work in the field of psychology Mairi was able to touch many lives and has truly left the world better than she found it, tackling the hardest of the hard cases head on. Her family moved to Baker City, Oregon in 2010 to pursue her therapy career with the company New Directions. She originally started as a counselor at the prison but had to be transferred to a different department when she became too much of a distraction for the inmates. Many years she was loyal to the company and clients.
Even while Mairi was fighting cancer, she was usually laughing contagiously, and always spunky and mischievous. For over 6 years, she fought a determined battle to prolong the time she had to be with her children and family. She was a devoted and steadfast mother who adored her four wonderful children with her husband Joshua Nielsen. She wanted the world for her family and worked hard to give it to them.
Mairi will be missed beyond measure. She would like you all to grieve by going on an adventure. Try a new food, tell spooky stories, drive a different way home, visit a ghost town, book a flight to a nowhere town, or, if you can, go bury your feet in a sandy beach by the ocean. And think of Mairi while you do it. She loved you all very much, and very deeply. The world is darker without Mairi in it, but we are brighter because we knew her.
She is survived by her husband Joshua, her children, Richard (15), Anden, (12), Kyler (10) and Kahlan (10), her parents: Scott and Lora McAllister, her siblings: Scott McAllister (Corinna), Cindy McAllister (Ben), Ellen McAllister (Josh), Will McAllister (Zel), Kristine Turner (Devin), James McAllister (Annie), Holly McAllister, Lara McNair (Randy), as well as countless nieces and nephews who all love fun Aunt Mairi. She is preceded in death by her beloved sister Rebecca Jensen (Luke). They’re likely together at some heavenly Disneyland as you read this.
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