Marie Marzolf Matsch

Marie (Marzolf) Matsch, 96, formerly of Burlington, IA, died peacefully Dec. 4, 2009 at the Sharon Richardson Community Hospice, near Sheboygan, WI, where she had lived since 2003. She was born Jan. 7, 1913 in Nauvoo, IL, to the late Carl and Emma (Koehler) Marzolf. She graduated from Nauvoo High School and received her R.N. degree in 1934 from Burlington Protestant Hospital, where she worked as a night supervisor after her graduation. She met Charles Matsch in Burlington, and they later married in Nauvoo on May 25, 1940. Married for 59 years, Marie and Charley enjoyed traveling together across the US, especially to national parks, and working the soil and watching the wildlife on their hobby farm in Burlington, where they eventually built a retirement home. They liked to share their bumper crop of tomatoes and apples from their two vegetable gardens and orchard with neighbors and friends. Marie, who was a great cook, would can and freeze everything that they grew. She enjoyed fishing on their farm pond and in Wisconsin, and could recognize many birds from their song. Even though born in Illinois, she became a true Iowan, and with her husband, a huge Hawkeye fa...[more]

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Together, they celebrated the simple pleasures of life and set an example for their family with good character, strong values, and respect for community. Marie showered her family with unconditional love, and after each visit and goodbye liked to keep the grandchildren's fingerprints, if just for a while, on her sliding glass doors. Marie was active in her community as a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, where she sang in the choir and belonged to a women's circle; as a member of PEO Chapter HU in Burlington and Chapter DK in Sheboygan; in the nursing organization Jane Delano; and as a member of Kings Daughters, and TTT. Along with her parents and brothers, Harold and Edward, she was preceded in death by her husband on Aug. 9, 1999. She is survived by her daughter, Ronna (Robert) Cline, Sheboygan, WI, and their daughters, Carrie (Charlie) Green, East Lansing, MI, and Carna (Bryan) Hamilton, Cincinnati, OH, her beloved great-grandchildren, Madeline and Sylvia Green and Charley and Will Hamilton; brothers-in-law Robert (Marg) Matsch, Burlington; William (Peggy) Matsch, Cherry Hills, CO, and Richard (Lib) Matsch, Longmont, CO, along with many nieces and nephews. Services will be at noon on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 at the Lunning Chapel, 2620 Mount Pleasant St., Burlington, IA. The Rev. Carl Engstrom will officiate. Friends may call at the chapel from 11:30 a.m. until the service. Interment will be in Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to Bethany Lutheran Church, Burlington, IA; the Sharon Richardson Community Hospice, Sheboygan Falls, WI; or the Matsch Scholarship Fund at Southeastern Community College, Burlington, IA. Marie's family extends their thanks to the pastoral staff of First United Lutheran Church, the assisted living staff at Terrace Estates and Dr. Curtis Hancock, all of Sheboygan, and the Richardson Community Hospice, for their care and guidance.