Ewoldt, Marlys Mae (1929-2018)

EWOLDT, KOLPIN, HUSEMAN, GEBERS, MELSHA, MURPHY

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 5/18/2021 at 17:36:23

Marlys Mae Ewoldt
January 4, 1929 - August 20, 2018

Marlys Ewoldt, age 89, of Alta, Iowa, died on Monday, August 20, 2018, at the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Marlys Ewoldt was born on January 4, 1929, to Lester and Frieda (Huseman) Kolpin. While her father farmed, her mother worked as a housewife. For most of her life, Marlys lived on her family’s Century farm. She attended St. John’s Lutheran parochial school where she was also confirmed. At the time, confirmation studies required her to memorize nineteen hymns and twenty psalms. For her confirmation, she recited “Just as I Am.”

After graduating from Alta High School, Marlys attended Drake University. While there, she lived in a basement apartment in Des Moines and worked as a waitress to help with expenses. Her roommate was a stranger (Gig) from Chicago who asked Marlys “What is this God thing?” Mom brought her to church, and they stayed in touch over the years. Marlys graduated from Drake with a two-year teaching certificate.

In 1948, Marlys began teaching at the Hayes School, a country school just outside Storm Lake. She taught there for two years. During her second year, she had to ask the school board for permission to marry. On November 20, 1949, she married Wendell Ewoldt at St. John’s in an all pink wedding ceremony followed by a three course sit down dinner for two hundred people at the Alta Legion Hall. Following the wedding, Wendell and Marlys lived in the Hayes teacherage for a year.

In 1950, Marlys resigned her teaching position. At that time, female teachers were not allowed to have their own children. Her first child, Mary Jane, was born on February 16, 1951, and on December 27, 1952, her second daughter, Carol Lea, was born. In 1956, during a drought and $12/ hundred weight price for hogs, Marlys took a temporary ½ year teaching job in Schaller that turned into much more. She taught several grades but loved teaching fourth graders the best. She called her assignment a “teacher’s paradise.” After seven years of teaching, Marlys felt her family needed her at home. After one year, however, the superintendent at Schaller called and asked her to come back. Her family convinced her to return.

Marlys continued to teach for twenty-two years. During that time, she raised her family and took night school and summer courses to graduate from Buena Vista College in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree. After both of her girls had graduated from college, she decided she needed to retire. She wanted to leave teaching on a high note and spend more time with her husband, taking memorable trips to Canada, Hawaii, and California along with many bus trips. Retired, she now had time to do a little tractor driving, tutor children, teach Thursday church school, learn to play golf and bridge, and become acquainted with computers. Indeed, she used her computer daily, emailing her daughters to update them on her plans and activities.

In 1998, Marlys and Wendell moved to Alta and the home her parents had built in 1951. Marlys influenced the lives of her family and hundreds of students. She could hardly go anywhere without encountering former students anxious to greet” Mrs. Ewoldt,” their favorite teacher. Feeling God had given her a gift, she never stopped teaching.

She will be forever remembered and held in their hearts by her husband, Wendell Ewoldt; her daughters: Mary Jane (Gail) Gebers and Carol Lea (Kevin) Melsha; her grandchildren: Dr. Alex (Jann) Murphy, Dr. Kyle (Jen) Murphy, BJ (Lisa) Melsha, and Kailyn Melsha; her step grandchildren: Scott (Renae) Gebers and Chad (Shannon) Gebers; her great-grandchildren: Carly, Chloe, Keegan, and Brynley Murphy; and her step great-grandchildren: Ryleigh, Dane, Will, Drew, Hannah, and Sydney Gebers.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, August 23, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Hanover, Iowa. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Visitation will take place Wednesday, August 22, 2018, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Alta. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Alta is overseeing the arrangements.

Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Homes, Alta, Iowa, 2018.

Buena Vista Obituaries maintained by LaVern Velau.
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