"Peggy, Roger, and family,
My heartfelt sympathies to you all on your mom's passing.
I remember when you were looking for a place for her due to her dementia. I told you about my family's personal experiences.
Fran mentioned you were back lately and that your mom knew who you were! What a wonderful last memory you 2 shared.
Your mom lived a very active life; enjoyed about her helping to build bombers during ww2.
May God comfort you now and in days, months, and years ahead.
RIP"
In loving memory of
Marion Bernice Gunderson Hickman
November 29, 1921 - September 3, 2016
Marion Bernice Gunderson Hickman died on September 3, 2016, at the
Israel Hospice House in Ames, IA. Her cremains will be interred with those of
her husband in the Iowa Veteran's Cemetery at Van Meter, IA. She died at age
94 of complications from dementia.
She was born on November 29, 1921, in Cottonwood, MN to Thomas Arnold
Gunderson and Bertha Olivia Wastun. She graduated from Cottonwood High
School in 1939 and completed one year at Winona State College. She moved
to Pasadena, CA in 1942 to work for North American Aircraft during World War
II building B-25 bombers. She married Robert Dan Hickman on May 3, 1946 in
Pasadena, CA, and they enjoyed 61 years of marriage.
Marion worked for the Long Beach, CA, School District in the cafeteria at
Monroe Elementary and DeMille Junior High School, for Sears Roebuck in Long
Beach, CA in customer service, and helped found and operate West Coast
Homes with her husband in Rocklin, CA. She and Robert retired in 1979 and
moved to Yuma AZ and then to Colo IA in 1984. While they lived in Colo
Marion greatly enjoyed volunteering at the Colo Library. In 1995 Bob and
Marion moved to Ames until 1998, when they moved to Mission, TX. Marion
moved back to Ames after her husband died, and lived at Stone Haven
Apartments for 3 years and then at Bethany Life communities for 5 years.
She was preceded in death by Robert Hickman in 2007, her brother Thomas
Gunderson in 2008 and her brother Robert Gunderson in 2016. She will be
lovingly remembered by her daughter and son-in-law, Peggy and Roger Baer
of Broomfield, CO, her granddaughter Eldree Elizabeth Baer of Des Moines IA,
her grandson Eric Anson Baer and wife Laura and two great-grandsons Tucker
Joshua Baer and Cole Robert Baer of Boulder, CO.
Marion's family thanks the many caregivers, at both the Assisted Living and
Christy Place communities of Bethany Life, for their excellent care of Marion.
Memorials may be directed to the Colo Public Library in Colo, IA or the Bethany
Manor Foundation's "Employee Appreciation Fund", at Bethany Life Communities,
212 Lafayette Ave., Story City IA 50248.